Bangladesh prime minister defiant after violent poll win

HASINA BLAMES RIVAL BANGLADESH NATIONALIST PARTY FOR BLOODSHED ON POLLING DAY

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina insisted yesterday her walkover win in an election boycotted by the opposition was legitimate and blamed her rivals for the unprecedented bloodshed on polling day.

In defiant comments the day after her re- election, Hasina accused the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( BNP) of making a mistake by shunning the vote and made clear she was not in the mood to offer any olive branches to BNP leader Khaleda Zia, her arch- enemy.

Hasina’s ruling Awami League cruised to victory in Sunday’s election after the BNP and 20 other opposition parties refused to take part over fears the contest would be rigged.

Fresh standoff

But although the landslide should allow Hasina to rule for another five years, the opposition says her victory lacks any credibility. It has called for new polls organised by a caretaker government to be held as soon as possible.

The boycott

should

“not mean there will be a question of legitimacy”, Hasina told foreign journalists at her official residence in Dhaka.

“People participated in the poll and other parties participated,” she added in reference to a handful of Awami League allies who did stand.

BNP blames the government for the crisis after it refused demands for the election to be organised by a neutral caretaker administration as in previous years.

The prime minister said she had offered Zia — who has been under de facto house arrest for more than a week — the chance to join an interim cross- party government before the vote.

Analysts expect the standoff will fan the flames after the deadliest year of unrest since Bangladesh broke free from Pakistan in 1971.

Walkover victory Shaikh Hasina speaks during a media conference in Dhaka yesterday. The ruling Awami League won a violence- plagued parliamentary election after a boycott by the main opposition party. Reuters