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DHAKA: Former Bangladesh premier Khaleda Zia has accepted this week's election results despite alleging the vote, which she lost heavily, was rigged, a spokesman for her party said on Thursday.
"We want to give the Awami League party the opportunity to run the country. We want to see them keep their promises to the people," Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) spokesman Khondaker Delwar told reporters.
Delwar said the BNP maintained that the vote, in which they won just 29 seats out of a possible 300, was rigged but that they would not challenge the outcome.
Prime Minister-elect Sheikh Hasina, meanwhile, greeted a crowd of 3,000 well-wishers gathered outside her home.
Apart from a brief victory speech, she has kept a low profile since the win amid fears that Islamic militants were plotting to kill her.
She said during her speech on Wednesday that she would work with opposition parties while in power.
"I'm seeking cooperation from (Zia). She is also a former prime minister," she said. "I want to work with everyone."
Officials warned that post-poll violence was still possible after a ban on political activity was lifted on Thursday.
"Security to Sheikh Hasina is a top priority," the head of the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) security force, Hasan Mahmud, said, adding that more than 50,000 troops deployed for the election would stay in position.
Election Commissioner Shakhawat Hossain said voters should be cautious about public celebrations.
"They should not go around being very jubilant. So far so good, but there were incidents of violence that happened in the last election in 2001."
The election on Monday was largely peaceful with a festive atmosphere at polling booths, but police said they remained on guard for revenge attacks by losing activists and Islamic militants opposed to Sheikh Hasina.
The BNP has said its party workers were dragged from polling booths during voting and later beaten up.
But after independent observers, including the European Union, declared the election was free and fair, analysts said the BNP had little choice but to admit defeat.
"The party appears to have little power," Dhaka University politics professor Ataur Rahman said.
Sheikh Hasina is expected to take charge of the country within the next week.
Voter turnout in Monday's election was a record 70.3 million, accounting for 87 per cent of a possible 81 million voters.
- AFP/so
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