Bangladesh opposition boycotts swearing-in, demands probe

Opposition MPs on Thursday boycotted the swearing-in of the new Bangladesh parliament after a controversial election that was dogged by allegations of intimidation and fraud.

Hasina’s ruling alliance won more than 90 percent of the seats contested in Sunday’s election, marking the third term in office for the leader accused of increasing authoritarianism and overseeing a crackdown on the opposition.

Hasina and her ruling Awami League party have dismissed the accusations.

While newly elected members of parliament from the ruling bloc, including Hasina, were sworn in, the seven opposition members stayed away.

Opposition leaders and candidates from Sunday's election, which ended with at least 17 dead in voting-related unrest, met in Dhaka and were expected to submit an official request to the election commission for the results to be cancelled.

“Why should we take the oath when we’ve rejected this election?” Mirza Fakhrul Islam, secretary general of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), told reporters.

Islam is one of the seven opposition members who won a seat.

Hasina has denied any election impropriety, calling it a peaceful vote that saw enthusiastic participation.

The Election Commission has rejected an opposition call for a new vote, but despite that, the opposition alliance on Thursday submitted a new demand for a re-run of the polls.

“Our each and every candidate will file a case with the election tribunal in their respective seats rejecting the results and bringing allegations of vote fraud,” Islam said.

Western governments, including the United States and the European Union, have condemned the election-day violence and called for an investigation of a range of irregularities.

On Thursday, New York-based Human Rights Watch said the run-up to the vote was characterized by “violence and intimidation against the opposition ... and the misuse of laws to limit free speech”.

It called for an independent and impartial investigation of the accusations of electoral abuses.