Dhaka - Bangladesh's military-backed government announced
Wednesday it would hold December elections according to the announced
schedules, despite the demands of a leading party not being met.
The announcement came an hour before the expiry of a deadline set
by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party of former prime minister Khaleda
Zia, which had demanded the government delay the poll and allow her
party to join.
The parliamentary and upazila (local council) elections would be
held according to the previously announced schedule 'as there had been
no consensus between the political alliances ... (and the) government
despite ... all our effort,' said Hossain Zillur Rahman, a key adviser
to the interim government.
The Election Commission has fixed balloting dates for parliamentary
polls on December 18 and for local councils on December 28.
The BNP-led alliance condemned the decision, saying the military-
backed government was trying to implement a 'blue-print' to hold 'a
one-sided election' under the state of emergency.
'It has been trying to keep us out of the electoral race to install
a rubber-stamp parliament and establish a puppet government,' said BNP
Secretary General Khaldaker Delwar Hossain.
He called on the authorities to implement a four-point charter of
demands to hold an acceptable polls with participation of all parties.
The Election Commission later Wednesday extended the timeline for
filing candidatures by a further three days until November 23, keeping
the voting date unchanged.
Khaleda Zia had demanded the complete lifting of the state of
emergency, deferral of voting dates of both parliamentary and local
government polls, and voting by Muslim pilgrims who might not be in
Bangladesh during the polls.
The government relaxed provisions of its emergency rule to allow
limited electioneering by the parties and candidates for the general
election.
On Tuesday the European Union announced that it will send observers
to monitor Bangladesh's general election, after concluding that an
atmosphere for 'a free, fair and credible election' had been created.
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