Bangladesh polls to go ahead despite Hasina boycott

DHAKA, Jan 4 (Reuters) Bangladesh will go ahead with planned parliamentary elections 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 said yesterday it was boycotting the vote, accusing the interim government charged with organising the polls of favouring her opponents.

Two other parties 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 her election campaign today outside the capital, Dhaka, unfazed by the boycott call that diplomats and analysts said could plunge Bangladesh into greater uncertainty and chaos.

At least 20 people were injured today when supporters of Khaleda and Hasina exchanged gunfire at Chandpur 170 km southeast of Dhaka today.

The shooting erupted when one group tried to break up a rally by its rivals. Police said several houses were also vandalised.

At least 45 people have been killed and hundreds injured in political violence since the interim government took over in October with the task of steering the country to the polls.

''Authorities will use army troops from January 10 to seize illegal weapons ahead of the elections,'' Abdur Rashid Sarkar, secretary of the election commission, told reporters.

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

''We have no alternative to holding the elections on the due date, we are bound by the constitution,'' an election commission official said today.

The constitution stipulates that Bangladesh must have new elections within three months of the expiry of a government's mandate. Khaleda ended her five-year term in late October and handed power to an interim government headed by the state president, Iajuddin Ahmed.

''It (the election boycott) is unfortunate,'' said Fazlul Haque, adviser to the caretaker government at the Ministry of Law, Judiciary and Parliamentary Affairs.

''You can imagine what might happen if some parties refuse to be bound by the constitution,'' he told reporters.

KHALEDA SLAMS HASINA The election commission distributed poll symbols to contesting parties, including Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and her ally, Jamaat-e-Islami.

On the campaign trail, Khaleda urged Bangladeshis ''not to be misled by the propaganda'' of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League.

''They are out to destroy the country and its economy ...

they have ulterior motives,'' Khaleda told cheering supporters at Gaffargaon, in the northern district of Mymensigh.

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 resign as caretaker chief because of a perceived failure to act neutrally or implement the electoral reforms they sought to make the polls free and impartial.

Hasina had urged Iajuddin to sack key election officials whom she accuses of favouring Khaleda and her BNP. She also wanted the list of registered voters overhauled to remove fraudulent names.

''We are compelled to boycott the elections because President Iajuddin Ahmed has failed to prove his neutrality,'' Hasina told a meeting of student supporters.

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

''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. 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 British High Commission spokesman said: ''We are concerned by the prospect of violence and therefore hope a way forward can be found that will allow participation of all political parties in the election.'' REUTERS PB HT2100