China greets ruling party over election win in Bangladesh

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – China on Tuesday “greeted” Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League party over winning “successful” 12th general elections held over the weekend, largely boycotted by the opposition parties.

China “congratulates Bangladesh on successfully holding the general elections as planned and congratulates the Awami League for winning the election,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

“As a friendly neighbor, China firmly supports Bangladesh in implementing the political agenda in accordance with the law after the election,” said Mao, according to Beijing-based daily Global Times.

The Bangladesh Election Commission on Monday announced the unofficial results of 298 of the country's 300 parliamentary seats.

Of the total, the Awami League party won 223 seats, its ally Jatiya Party 11, independent candidates won 61 seats and the rest were bagged by other parties.

Mao said: “China is willing to work with Bangladesh to achieve new and greater development in the strategic partnership between the two countries.”

The weekend polls held in the South Asian nation saw boycott by the opposition parties which called it “dummy election” while the US said the polls “were not free or fair.”

The opposition parties, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami party, boycotted the election.

The BNP demanded resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the cancellation of the "dummy election" and the holding of a new poll under a neutral caretaker system.

Ahead of the elections, the government repeatedly rejected the demand for a caretaker system that was abolished by parliament in 2011.