Bangladesh to hold January election amid boycott threat

  Bangladesh announced plans Monday to hold a general election in early January after threats by the main opposition party to boycott the contest. "The election will be held on January 5," Chief Elections Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad announced in an address on state television, urging all parties to take part in the election for the 300 seat parliament. An alliance of 18 opposition parties has threatened to boycott the polls unless Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina agrees to step down immediately and make way for a caretaker government to oversee the election. Ahmad said that he had requested President Abdul Hamid -- whose post is largely ceremonial -- to try and negotiate an end to the dispute between Hasina's governing Awami League and the opposition which is dominated by former premier Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). "We've asked the president to personally initiate special steps and end this unbearable impasse," Ahmad added. There was no immediate comment from the BNP but its spokesman Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told reporters ahead of the widely-trailed announcement that the opposition would "cripple the country" with a series of new nationwide strikes and blockades of cities until its demand are met. Hasina has rejected the calls for a caretaker government, and instead formed a multi-party interim cabinet last week which is largely made of her allies. She asked the BNP to join the cabinet but her invitation was bluntly refused by the opposition.