Bangla polls to go ahead despite Hasina boycott

Dhaka, Jan 4: Bangladesh will go ahead with planned parliamentary elections later this month despite a decision by a mainstream political alliance to boycott it, election officials said today.

The election is set for January 22, but the multi-party alliance led by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday decided to boycott the vote, accusing the interim government charged with organising the polls of favouring her opponents.

Two other parties also announced a boycott: the Jatiya Party of former army ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad and the Liberal Democratic Party of former president A Q M Badruddoza Chowdhury.

The immediate past prime minister, Begum Khaleda Zia, launched a full-scale election campaign today outside the capital Dhaka, unfazed by the boycott threat that diplomats and analysts said could plunge Bangladesh into greater uncertainty and chaos.

Businessmen feared that political turmoil in the country of 140 million people could derail an economy that is projected to grow 7 per cent in the year to June 2007.

''We have no alternatives to holding of the elections on the due date because of constitutional bindings,'' an election commission official said today.

The constitution stipulates that Bangladesh must have new elections within three months after Khaleda ended her five-year tenure as prime minister in late October and handed power to the interim government headed by President Iajuddin Ahmed.

Khaleda Slams Hasina

On her campaign trail today, Khaleda asked Bangladeshis ''not to be misled by the propaganda'' of the Awami League.

''They are out to destroy the country and its economy. They are working to achieve some ulterior motives,'' Khaleda told cheering supporters at Gaffargaon, in northern Mymensigh district.

Bangladesh's traditional friends including the United States, Britain and European countries have said an election without participation of all major parties and a strong opposition in parliament would not be credible.

Hasina and her allies have demanded Iajuddin's resignation as caretaker chief because he had failed to act neutrally or implement the electoral reforms they had asked for to make the polls free and impartial.

Hasina wanted Iajuddin to sack key election officials whom she accuses of favouring Khaleda and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in the elections. She also wanted the list of registered voters overhauled to remove fraudulent names.

Hasina's Awami League and allies have today called for a countrywide protest on Thursday and a two-day transport blockade from January 7 to pile pressure on Iajuddin to quit.

The government said army troops would take charge of law and order during the impending protests and blockades that routinely shut transport, business and ports.

Diplomats, who had shuttled between rival political parties to help resolve their disputes, expressed dismay today over the boycott plan.

''We are disappointed by the announcement that the Awami League and its partners in the grand alliance intend to boycott this month's elections,'' a US embassy spokesman said.

''We note this decision is an apparent reversal of their previous commitment to participate (in the polls). We urge them to reconsider. The US continues to believe that participation of all major parties is a necessary element for free, fair and credible elections.'' A spokesperson for the British High Commission said: ''We are concerned by the prospect of violence (in the run up to the coming polls) and therefore hope a way forward can be found that will allow participation of all political parties in the election.''

Reuters