Bangladesh's army-backed rulers will hand over power to an elected government on December 31 after holding national polls, a report said Saturday. The interim government, which came to power in January 2007, will hold a general election on December 18 and local government polls on December 24 before transferring power to a civilian government, said Law Minister Hassan Ariff.
"The tenure of this government will come to an end on December 31," the private Bdnews24.Com news agency quoted Hassan Ariff as saying. "We will then hand over power to an elected government and go back to our respective professions," he told the news agency.