Bangladesh parties reject local elections

Major political parties in Bangladesh turned down Saturday the offer of local government polls by the military backed interim regime ruling the country for more than a year, officials said.
Local elections were announced for August 4 in four cities and nine towns by Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda ahead of a general election which is expected to return the populous South Asian country to democratic rule.
The two major political groups, the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), have called for outright cancellation of the non-party local polls, claiming they can disrupt the crucial parliamentary vote. In a sharp reaction to the official move to hold the mayoral polls before the national elections the Awami League's acting secretary general Ashraful Islam said a conspiracy was on to sabotage the democratic movement in the country.