Dhaka  - Bangladesh's prime minister-elect Sheikh Hasina Wazed Wednesday called upon all political parties to join hands in her fight against poverty, which she called the highest priority for the impoverished South Asian nation.

"Poverty is the number one enemy of the country. We need a united effort to fight the enemy," said the 61-year old leader said in her first press conference since winning a landslide in Monday's polls.

Hasina, who is expected to become Bangladesh prime minister in a week since her Awami League and its allies won 262 out of 299 parliamentary seats.

She offered the post of deputy speaker in parliament and chairmanship of parliamentary committees proportionately to the opposition lawmakers, to work together for the betterment of Bangladesh, a country of 150 million people, almost half of whom are still living below the poverty line.

Asked whether she would choose ministers from among opposition MPs, she replied that her previous cabinet between 1996-2001 included two opposition members.

"Of course, I don't have a problem with that," she said adding that her government's goal was to improve the standard of living.

Her main rival, former prime minister Khaleda Zia, earlier on Tuesday rejected the polls results as fraudulent.

"The Election Commission only announced a staged result set earlier," said Zia, who heads an alliance led by her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

The BNP won only 29 out of 299 seats.

The polls were hailed by both local and international observers as credible, mostly peaceful and fair.

Monday's polls were monitored by more than 250,000 election observers from Bangladesh and abroad. Voter turnout was above 80 per cent amid tight security.

The election had been originally scheduled for January 2007, but was postponed following the declaration of a state of emergency in the wake of political violence. The country has been under a military-backed caretaker government since. (dpa)