DHAKA: Bangladesh’s two main political parties renewed their threat to boycott elections in December if their leaders, facing charges of corruption and abuse of power, were not given an unconditional release.

Both Begum Khaleda Zia, who leads the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and Sheikh Hasina, leader of the Awami League, were released earlier this year but the charges against them remained.

“We will not participate in the December 18 polls unless our chief Begum Khaleda Zia is freed unconditionally and all charges against her are withdrawn,” said BNP secretary-general Khandaker Delwar Hossain. He said the party would press its demands during a meeting on election preparations with members of the army-backed interim administration which took over last year after months of political violence, vowing to clean up politics and governance before holding elections.

Hasina’s Awami League in a separate statement said it would not join the election unless Hasina, now on medical parole in the United States, was granted “complete freedom”. It wanted all charges against her dropped.

Hasina and Khaleda, both former prime ministers, had spent a year in detention along with dozens of top political figures. Their supporters saw it as part of a “conspiracy” to humiliate and disgrace the two women who alternated as prime minister over the last 15 years.