B'desh high court ruling sows new political chaos

DHAKA, May 27: A Supreme Court ruling has plunged the always highly confrontational world of Bangladeshi politics into further chaos, with opposition leaders now accusing the government of seeking to postpone the 2007 general election.

The top judges found on Tuesday that a voters' list drawn up for next January's parliamentary polls was invalid, and asked the Election Commission to update the one used for the 2001 vote that gave Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia a second five-year term.

The new electoral roll, published in early May, listed 91 million eligible voters from the country's 140 million people, around 20 million more than the total on the 2001 list.

The opposition said the new roll contained millions of fake names entered to vote for the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and took the issue to court.

Having won that case, a 14-party opposition alliance led by Khaleda's arch rival, Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League, has now demanded the immediate resignation of the chief election commissioner, accusing him of pro-government bias.

BNP secretary-general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, talking to reporters late yesterday, described the opposition demands as ''aimed at frustrating the polls and destroying democracy''.

''The Awami League is trying to foil the vote fearing a defeat,'' Bhuiyan said.

Newspapers today quoted Khaleda's political secretary, Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, as saying that updating the voters' list in the short time before the election was impossible.

''So, the country is inevitably heading into a constitutional crisis which can possibly be resolved through changes in the system of governance,'' Chowdhury told a private television channel.

Political analysts said Chowdhury was hinting at parliament approving an extension of the term of the current government, due to end its five-year tenure in October and hand over to a caretaker administration which would organise the election.

Chowdhury was not immediately available for comment.

Such speculation, which the BNP's Bhuiyan has dismissed as guesswork, was fuelled by former Prime Minister Hasina, who said Khaleda was ''conspiring to assume the power of the president and to manipulate the election process and its results.'' ''The government is playing with a sinister design to give the presidential powers to Khaleda Zia as well,'' she said yesterday as President Iajuddin Ahmed underwent heart surgery in Singapore.

As prime minister, Khaleda is the country's chief executive, but the figurehead president constitutionally heads the powerful armed forces.

The Awami League had earlier threatened to boycott the January polls unless the chief election commissioner and his deputies were removed, and changes made to the caretaker administration system to make it fully independent and neutral.

''No one really knows where the country is heading to in the run-up to the election,'' said Sharful Hayat, a senior private banker. ''Every one suspects we are destined for widespread violence and a worse political crisis.'' Bangladesh has been troubled this month by a wave of violence hitting its prime textile industry and protests over shortages in key utility sectors including water and electricity Ruling and opposition parties blame each other for the violence.

Reuters