Bangladesh opposition MPs take oath

Bangladesh parliament getting ready for session

By Waliur Rahman in Dhaka

The main opposition party in Bangladesh, the Awami League, says that its newly elected MPs will take the oath of office, but they will not join the opening session of the new parliament.

The Awami League chief, Sheikh Hasina, said the decision had been taken to honour the people who voted for the party, and in the interest of the country's constitutional process.

The constitutional process should be continued at any cost

Sheikh Hasina

However, Sheikh Hasina, whose party faced a crushing defeat in the general election, vowed not to join parliament, at least for the time being, to protest against what she described as violence against them.

She said it was impossible for them to sit in the parliament with the same people who, according to her, were responsible for widespread violence against her party workers and religious minority groups.

Warning

She said the party will closely watch the behaviour of the ruling coalition and will take a final decision about joining parliament later.

The party had earlier threatened to boycott the parliament.

Opposition leader Sheikh Hasina agrees to swearing-in

In the last parliament, Khaleda Zia's BNP then in opposition also boycotted several sessions particularly during last two years.

Swearing-in

Awami League officials say the swearing in of the newly elected MPs is likely to be held on Wednesday.

An alliance led by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) won more than two-thirds of the 300 seats in the election held on 1 October .

The BNP's secretary general and Local government minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan welcomed the Awami League's decision saying that it was a good sign that the Awami League had finally accepted the people's verdict.

Mr Bhuiyan also dismissed the allegation that his party was responsible for the recent violence.