United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday called Prime minister Sheikh Hasina over phone at about 1:45pm.

Press Secretary to the Prime Minister AKM Shamim Chowdhury said, UN secretary general talked about the city corporation elections held in three cities.

AKM Shameem Chowdhury said, during the discussion, UN chief termed the participation of BNP in the elections as ‘comforting’. At the same time he described BNP’s boycott halfway as ‘unfortunate’. 

During the 14-minute conversation, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina informed Ban Ki-moon that the elections were held peacefully and this is the first time in Bangladesh that no one was killed in election related violence, Shamim Chowdhury said. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina hoped that UN chief would suggest that BNP return to the democratic politics shunning the path of criminal and militant activities.

About the recent city corporation polls held in Dhaka and Chittagong, the Prime Minister said common voters participated spontaneously in the polls and law enforcers played a very strong role in holding the election in a peaceful manner.

Referring to the skipping of BNP from the polls on the election day, Sheikh Hasina said their aim was to make the polls questionable.

During the conversation, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon highly praised the government of Sheikh Hasina for its continued and tireless efforts in consolidating democracy of Bangladesh.

He strongly criticised violence and subversive acts and said there is no place of such activities in democracy.

Ban Ki-moon also highly appreciated Bangladesh's tremendous success in sociology-economic development and achieving MDGs as well as Bangladesh's role in UN peacekeeping missions.

The UN Secretary General informed the Prime Minister that he gave responsibility to the Assistant Secretary General Oscar Farnadez Taranko of holding talks on the overall situation.

The Prime Minister thanked Ban Ki-moon for expressing his sincerity on maintaining democratic process in Bangladesh. 

Earlier, on 28 April, United Nations urged the authorities concerned to probe the allegations made by the opposition parties regarding the elections in three cities.