The World - News from June 14, 1987

Ethiopian voters go to the polls today for the first parliamentary election since the late Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown and a Marxist state set up in 1974. Voters will elect the country’s first national parliament, the 835-seat Shengo. Under a new constitution adopted in February, the Shengo will become the supreme organ of government, replacing a military council that has ruled Ethiopia since 1974. One of the Shengo’s first duties will be to elect Ethiopia’s military leader, Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam, as national president, officials said.