Uncertainty clouds Bangladesh poll partipants

DHAKA, Dec 27 (Reuters) Participation of all major parties in Bangladesh's upcoming election was thrown into uncertainty today after a key ally of strong contender Sheikh Hasina threatened to boycott the poll.

Jatiya Party chief Hossain Mohammad Ershad, a former military ruler, was yesterday ordered to give himself up by the Supreme Court, which upheld his two-year jail term for squandering state funds in a deal to buy patrol boats from Japan while in power.

But Ershad, allied with former prime minister Hasina's Awami League, the main opposition party for the last five years, alleged a ''plot to keep me off the race''. A senior Awami League official said their participation could also be in doubt.

''If Ershad's participation in the coming vote is prevented by a conspiracy ... we may also rethink our decision to go to the polls,'' Obaidul Quader said.

Earlier, Election Commission officials said a record 4,146 candidates had registered to contest the January 22 election, double that of the last ballot five years ago.

Participants include a four-party alliance led by former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as well as the 14-party group headed by Hasina, her main rival.

The Awami League earlier said Ershad was being punished for refusing to make an alliance with Khaleda and that the court verdict was ''remote-controlled.'' Ershad, who ruled the impoverished south Asian nation for almost nine years to December 1990 but was ousted in a people's revolt jointly led by Khaleda and Hasina, said he could contest the polls while fighting a legal battle against his sentence.

But the Election Commission said that decision rested with the Law Ministry.

A final list of candidates for the poll, which will be held in 300 constituencies to choose as many legislators, will be announced in the first week of January, the Commission said.

Khaleda ended her five-year term as prime minister late in October and handed power to an interim government, headed by President Iajuddin Ahmed.

Hasina and Khaleda, who alternated as prime ministers for the last 15 years, have agreed to give about a third of the total parliament seats to their allies.

REUTERS PB BD1722