Several opposition politicians have been placed under house arrest in Ethiopia, EU election observers said today.

Ethiopian security forces opened fire today on stone-throwing protesters in the central business district, leaving at least 20 people dead, the independent Ethiopian Human Rights Council said.

Ethiopia’s main opposition coalition said today it will not accept election results for 84 seats that may hold the balance of power in the 547-strong parliament, increasing already high tensions as the nation awaits official results.

Ethiopia’s ruling party claims to have won just over half the seats in the country’s parliamentary election, but opposition leaders declared it was still too early to tell who would form the next government.

THE leader of Ethiopia’s main opposition party called for his coalition to reject the results of yesterday’s election before balloting was even over, saying there were massive irregularities that made it impossible for the vote to be free and fair.