Ethiopian opposition groups rejected results of parliamentary elections which gave long-time ruler Meles Zenawi a landslide win, and demanded fresh polls.

The main opposition bloc Medrek, which had already said Sunday's polls were riddled with fraud, called for a re-run of the election hours after another oppostion party criticised the process as unfair.

"We will not accept the results and we will call for a new election," said Merara Gudina, one of the main leaders of the eight-member Medrek coalition.

Medrek has so far won only one seat, according to preliminary polls which showed Meles' ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) party had taken 499 seats, in results from 536 constituencies.

Two opposition members killed

Another opposition party Oromo People's Congress (OPC) said today that two of its members had been shot dead by security forces in the sensitive Oromia region in a crackdown on dissent after the ruling party's crushing election win.

Merera Gudina, leader of the opposition Oromo People's Congress (OPC) said the dead were Wondu Desta and Tesfaye Selbessa

Government head of information, Bereket Simon, said one man was shot after trying to storm an office where ballots were being counted and the other was shot a day later by a policeman who he had beaten during the same incident.

"It is unfortunate that the men were killed," Bereket said. "But these are isolated incidents. It is nothing to do with any instruction from above." Bereket added that a warrant had been issued for the policeman's arrest.

Merera said more than a hundred members of his party, which is part of the eight-party Medrek coalition that has only won one seat in parliament so far, had been arrested since Sunday.

The government denied this allegation.

source: Reuters