Poll rerun only if BNP ends violence: Bangla PM
7 Jan 2014 6:37 AM IST
A day after rolling to victory in an election boycotted by the main opposition and plagued by deadly unrest, Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina held to her stance that fresh polls could be called only if her rivals put a halt to violence. With the opposition already having called a 48-hour strike and seven people killed in clashes on Monday, the crisis showed no sign of easing, risking further unrest and damage to the $22 billion garment industry that accounts for 80 per cent of exports.
Hasina’s Awami League ended with more than two-thirds of seats in a contest that was shunned by international observers as flawed and derided as a farce by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). With fewer than half the seats contested, the outcome was never in doubt. ‘An election can happen any time when BNP comes for a dialogue, but they must stop violence,’ Hasina, 64, said on the lawn at her official residence.
Hasina and Khaleda, 68, have alternated as prime minister for all but two of the past 22 years. The two are bitter rivals. The BNP, which had demanded a halt to Sunday’s election, denounces Hasina’s scrapping of the practice of having a caretaker government oversee elections. The Awami League says the interim government system has proved a failure.
Hasina’s Awami League ended with more than two-thirds of seats in a contest that was shunned by international observers as flawed and derided as a farce by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). With fewer than half the seats contested, the outcome was never in doubt. ‘An election can happen any time when BNP comes for a dialogue, but they must stop violence,’ Hasina, 64, said on the lawn at her official residence.
Hasina and Khaleda, 68, have alternated as prime minister for all but two of the past 22 years. The two are bitter rivals. The BNP, which had demanded a halt to Sunday’s election, denounces Hasina’s scrapping of the practice of having a caretaker government oversee elections. The Awami League says the interim government system has proved a failure.
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