Few complaining about Bangladesh election breather

DHAKA, Feb 22 (Reuters) More than a month has passed since the army stepped in to delay Bangladesh's elections and no new date has been set, yet except for the rival politicians who stood to gain from the poll, few are griping -- at least for now.

Not only do the country's interim leaders enjoy the backing of the armed forces, but the new relative stability and their pledge to purge corrupt politicians has been welcomed by the public and even, cautiously, by the international community.

Indeed, time is on the interim government's side.

''So far so good,'' said economist and political analyst, Atiur Rahman.

''They have been able to bring back some sanity in the society and taken some brave steps to rid politics of corruption. People have widely appreciated these,'' Atiur told Reuters.

An election set for January 22 was postponed after the army intervened to end weeks of political violence that killed 45 people and injured hundreds.

One of the first acts of a new interim government, led by former central back chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, was to jail some of the most senior figures in the two main parties, the Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International last year ranked Bangladesh as the third-most graft-affected country in the world, alongside Chad and Sudan.

The swoop cheered the aid community, which has long complained that corruption has thwarted vital projects.

HOSTAGE TO RIVALRY ''Corruption affected mostly the honest businessmen and ordinary people and the poor,'' Atiur said. ''Corruption has slowed the economy's growth but helped those who were nearer to power.'' He said most Bangladeshis also praised the interim authority's move to reform the election commission and the anti-corruption commission -- two institutions branded as inefficient and often corrupt under the previous government.

In fact, Bangladesh politics has long been held hostage to the bitter rivalry of the Awami League's Sheikh Hasina and BNP's Begum Khaleda Zia, both relatives of former assassinated leaders who haven't spoken to each other in years.

But the system has now been shaken to the point that the 2006 Nobel Laureate, Muhammad Yunus, has announced he will form his own political party, Nagorik Shakti. That throws a new element into a volatile mix.

In such an atmosphere, few are being openly critical or pressing too hard for a firm election date.

Britain, a key donor to the aid-dependent country, is pushing for an early commitment on a timeframe for elections to ''maintain momentum and popular backing'', a British High Commission official said.

A diplomat from the United States, which is concerned an unstable Bangladesh could provide a hiding place for Islamic militants, agreed.

''The current government has a very ambitious programme but it would be challenging to implement without a popular mandate,'' he told Reuters.

But the interim government and its army backers know the honeymoon cannot last forever.

Atiur said the interim government should not let reforms distract it from its main task of paving the way for a free and fair election.

''If they stick to relevant electoral reforms only, it should not take more than a year to finish -- though it may still look quite long a time to many,'' Atiur said.

''I think they should immediately set a date or a month for election, to pacify concerns,'' he said.

PUTTING PRESSURE Sheikh Hasina, predecessor of Bangladesh's immediate past prime minister Khaleda Zia, started putting the pressure on at a party meeting yesterday.

''We endorse the steps taken so far by the interim government to address corruption and various reforms issues. But people will not give them an unlimited time to govern without an elected parliament,'' she said.

Her remarks drew some hard comments from the government's law and information adviser, Mainul Husein.

''Why are the political leaders getting impatient? They created the crisis. And we are facing a difficult reality. Ask the politicians to reform and clean themselves,'' Mainul told Reuters.

''Again (I say), we are not happy over taking a long time ... as we too believe in democracy,'' he added.

REUTERS SY ND1418