Will continue to call on all stakeholders to promote credible election in Bangladesh: UN

The United Nations (UN) will continue to call on stakeholders to promote a peaceful, inclusive, and credible election in Bangladesh, UN Secretary-General's Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said yesterday.

"We continue to call on all stakeholders, the government, the political parties to do whatever they can, to promote a peaceful, inclusive, and credible election," Dujarric said replying to a question during a daily press briefing on Monday (20 November).

During the briefing, a journalist said the government announced to hold the national election on 7 January amid the suppression of the opposition and asked if the UN was going to take any action over it. 

In response,  Stéphane Dujarric said the UN will continue to call on all stakeholders to work to make the election credible. 

The Election Commission on Wednesday (15 November) announced the 12th Jatiya Sangsad (JS) election will be held on 7 January. The announcement of the schedule came amid staunch objections from the opposition parties, including the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami.

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal, announcing the schedule during a live telecast, invited all parties to participate in the polls as "there is an environment of holding free, fair and participatory polls".

He also stated that political parties will be able to submit nominations for candidacies till 30 November.

National polls on 7 January

Rejecting the election schedule, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi warned that the country was now headed towards an "inevitable conflict".

"That a fair election can be held under this government is a complete lie. We boycott this biased Election Commission," he said in a reaction at a virtual press conference last night.

"Except for AL, for whom has this election schedule been announced?" he questioned.

The ruling Awami League welcomed the EC announcement, saying it goes in line with the constitution and elections will be held accordingly.

"The Election Commission has announced the schedule according to the constitution. The process of nomination of candidates will start soon for the final preparation of the election," Matia Chowdhury, presidium member of the party and deputy leader in Parliament.

She also said leaders and activists of the party had also been instructed to prevent "BNP-Jamaat anarchy" by occupying the streets.  

The polls schedule came when opposition parties insisted a fair election is not possible under the AL rule and that consensus was yet to be reached regarding the form of government that would be in place during the election.

CEC, however, said, "We have held discussions with various stakeholders on numerous occasions. Heard them out, heard their suggestions, and explained our position. We have also called different political parties for dialogue."

He added, "The commission, with the government's help, wants peaceful, participatory and free polls. All political parties must abide by the code of conduct, maintain law and order."

The Election Commission will scrutinise the nomination submissions from 1-4 December. Appeals against the nominations can be submitted from 6-5 December and nominations need to be withdrawn by 17 December.

The CEC also said political parties will be able to distribute symbols within 18 December and the election campaign will officially kick off on 18 December. The campaign duration will end on 8:00am on 5 January.

To conduct the election on 300 constituencies, the EC has appointed a total of 66 returning officers and 592 assistant returning officers.

Earlier this month, the CEC made it clear that it did not have a mandate to resolve the crisis between political parties given the limited time in hand ahead of the 12th parliamentary election.

Under the constitution, the national election must be held within 90 days before the five-year term of the current parliament expires.

Prior to the EC telecast, US Ambassador Peter Haas handed out letters sent by US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu – calling for "dialogue without preconditions" – among the AL, the BNP and the Jatiya Party.

The letters also reiterated the call of "free, fair, impartial, and participatory elections".

Reacting to Donald Lu's letter, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader yesterday rejected the possibility of dialogue with opposition parties to resolve the ongoing political deadlock.

The BNP, Jamaat and other like-minded parties have long been demanding the national polls be held under a non-party neutral caretaker administration while the ruling Awami League maintains that the election will take place as per the constitution, under the government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.   

The political standoff turned to an escalation on 28 October, when the AL, BNP and Jamaat convened rallies in the capital, resulting in the death of a constable, injuries and fierce clashes in downtown Dhaka.  

The BNP rally was suspended midway by BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul, who also announced a hartal for the next day. He was arrested the next day.   This was followed by arrests of other senior BNP leaders, including Amir Khosru and Moazzem Hussain.

BNP enforced a hartal and blockades the following days while Jamaat-e-Islami and other parties, who held similar demands, also called similar programmes.

Also on the day of the election schedule announcement, the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and some other parties were observing the fifth phase of their blockade. In the evening, the BNP brought out processions across the country protesting the announcement of the schedule