AL sticks to associates, ignores RPO changes; Election under emergency can't be fair, says Delwar; Party Registration: BNP, Jamaat seek one week more, No registration before deal with govt, says BNP; Polls under emergency won't be credible; says US envoy
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    • On the domestic political front Awami League (AL) finalised draft proposals for amending the party constitution to get registered with the Election Commission (EC) but kept the provisions for associate organisations and foreign chapters. The provisions of keeping these bodies contradict the registration laws laid down in the revised Representation of the People Order (RPO)1. Meanwhile, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami have asked the EC to extend the time limit for registration by a week. They said that they want to sit with the caretaker government before applying to get registered2. On the other hand the EC extended the final date for registration by a week, till October 203.

    The AL submitted application for registration with the EC on October 15 with a renewed call on EC to withdraw its authority to cancel candidatures in parliamentary polls on grounds of violation of electoral laws4. On October 16, AL Presidium Member Matia Chowdhury said categorically that the state of emergency would definitely impede holding the parliamentary election in a free, fair and credible manner as there could be attempts to manipulate the polls results, the Daily Star reported5.

    On the other hand, the BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain has said that the BNP would not take any decision about registration with the EC and its participation in the upcoming polls until they reach a consensus with the government in the next round of talks6. He also asserted that election under the state of emergency cannot be free and fair7. Even the AL presidium member Tofail Ahmed warned that there would be a mass movement in the country if the parliamentary election is delayed8.

    The caretaker government has reportedly handed AL and BNP lists of some political leaders convicted or accused of graft, and asked the parties not to pick them as candidates for the December 18 polls. Meanwhile, the leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami said they too have heard about the “blacklists”, but have not yet received any. While, there are unconfirmed reports which claim that the Jatiya Party (JP) has been asked to go to the polls without its Chairman HM Ershad, the Daily Star reported9. The EC on the on the other hand has decided to ask AL to correct its provisional constitution that ignored the registration laws10.

    In another important development, the US ambassador to Bangladesh James F Moriarty said that he hoped that the political parties and the government will reach a compromise over the state of emergency to make the upcoming general election credible11. Meanwhile Chief Adviser (CA) Fakhruddin Ahmed told British Minister of State for Asia, Africa and the United Nations Lord Malloch Brown on October 15 that his caretaker government hopes that all the political parties will participate in December 18 general elections and a new government will take over after the polls12. On the other hand, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on November 1 or 2 to observe first-hand the situation in the build-up to the December 18 national election13.

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