ADDIS ABABA, May 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The successful completion of the third national elections indicated that democratic culture has been flourishing in Ethiopia, the US-based Carter Center has announced.

    Presenting a survey report here on Tuesday, the center named the national elections that held on Sunday as the first real multiparty democratic national elections in the history of Ethiopia.

    Former US president Jimmy Carter said on the occasion the national elections laid a firm ground for the development of democratic culture in the country.

    Carter, who arrived here Thursday to observe the third federal and regional parliamentarians' elections in Ethiopia, ascribed the massive turnout of voters to immense contributions of the mass media.

    The Carter Center also appreciated the decision the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) made to extend the balloting hours because of a massive turnout of voters on the polling day.

    According to the observers of the Carter Center, there were some problems in the balloting process like inability to monitor voters' identification cards, beginning balloting process before counting out the voting papers, and allegedly allowing under-aged persons.

    In fact, the Carter Center said, balloting was started a bit later than the scheduled period in some polling stations.

    Despite the problems, Cater congratulated the Ethiopian government and its people on the successful completion of the national elections.

    The former US president said the electorates and political parties should wait for the results of the national elections patiently until the results are announced officially.

    "I'm hopeful that the political parties will accept the results of the elections," Carter said, adding that "the political parties should restrain from releasing provocative statements."

    Carter visited around 40 or 75 different polling stations in Addis Ababa and on its outskirts on Sunday while the rest 50 observers of the Carter Center observed in many polling stations throughout the country. Enditem