Meles Zenawi looks set to retain his job
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has met opposition leaders for the first time since May's disputed polls.
The talks were designed to ease tensions after the opposition parties rejected the latest results which move Mr Meles close to victory.
"This is a major breakthrough," said Tim Clarke, the head of the European Union mission in Ethiopia.
At least 36 people died when protests over alleged fraud were put down by security forces firing guns.
Mr Meles called on the opposition not to carry out their threat to boycott parliament.
'Hate speech'
"The opposition were told by the prime minister that they have to make a choice in the coming days on whether they are in or out of the process and face the consequences," Mr Clarke said.
An agreement was reached to give access in the state media to the opposition and to curb "hate speech" in press coverage of the elections, reports the AP news agency.
Ethiopia's ruling coalition is now 11 seats short of a majority, according to officials results from disputed polls.
Earlier this week, the opposition called for the election body to be replaced and the 15 May polls re-run in almost 300 constituencies.
So far in the 547-seat parliament, the ruling party has 263 seats, the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy 108 and the United Ethiopian Democratic Front 51.
i don't think the ethiopian people are ready for eudf/cud government. they are tebab minded and trying to bring the neftegna agezaz. so no to derg/haile folks.
We don't thrust him. He is a man of several faces. He is serpent, Ibab! unless Meles disappears from the suface of the planet, Ethiopia shall never get free. Meles is number 1 enemy of Ethiopia and its people. After all he is not an Ethiopian, that is why he is always directing the country to distruction.
