By Barry Malone
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Girma Seifu was at home hosting a dinner party to celebrate what looked like a sure parliamentary seat win when he got the phone call that would force him into the spotlight.
Ethiopia's opposition coalition, the eight-party Medrek, had won only one seat in the 547-seat parliament -- his.
"The secretary general of the party called," says the newly elected MP, in his Addis Ababa office. "He said, 'you could be the only one'. I didn't expect that".
The almost complete wipeout of opposition in the Horn of Africa country's parliament was a shock. Analysts had expected the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) to win but not by that margin.
Aside from Girma and one independent parliamentarian, every winning MP is either a member of the EPRDF or from one of several closely allied parties.
