DHAKA, 6 January 2007 — The United States yesterday called on the Bangladesh caretaker government to create conditions conducive to transparent and fair polls.
“Our support and sending monitors will depend on whether such conditions are created,” a statement issued by the US Embassy in Dhaka said.
Regretting the Awami League-led opposition’s decision to boycott elections, the statement urged the parties to reconsider their decision and to offer the voters a chance to choose.
The US statement said elections needed to take place in an open and peaceful atmosphere with the participation of all political parties so that the voters can have confidence in the outcome.
“The process as it is unfolding certainly shows many imperfections. We urge the caretaker government and the Election Commission to act swiftly and impartially to create conditions under which all parties can participate,” it added.
Meanwhile, former army ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad, banned from contesting elections on corruption charges, has been ordered to surrender to a Dhaka court by Jan. 17.
The deadline was set on Thursday by the Dhaka District and Session Judge’s Court, just days after Ershad’s Jatiya Party announced a boycott of Jan. 22 elections.
“Now Ershad must surrender in the court, from where most likely he will go to jail,” a court official said yesterday.
On Dec. 14, the Supreme Court confirmed a two-year jail sentence, given earlier by a lower court, against Ershad for squandering state funds in a deal to buy patrol boats from Japan while he was in power from 1982 to 1990.
The sentence automatically banned him from contesting the coming elections, but Ershad still filed nomination papers to the Election Commission to enter the ballot. The commission again rejected his nominations on legal grounds.
Party officials said they could not participate in the parliamentary elections without their chairman in the race.
Former Prime Minister Hasina Wajed’s multiparty alliance and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of former President A.Q.M. Badroddoza Chowdhury have also pulled out of the ballot, adding to the uncertainty which has already brought weeks of political violence and crippling strikes. Party officials said an interim government in charge of steering the country through elections had failed to act neutrally or implement electoral reforms to make the vote free and fair.
Hasina, who was seen as a key contender in the poll until she withdrew on Wednesday, has asked for Ershad’s jail sentence to be repealed to allow him to participate in the polls.
Her Awami League, which leads the 14-party alliance, the Jatiya Party and LDP accuse President Iajuddin Ahmed, head of the interim administration, of favoring their rivals — the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of Khaleda Zia and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami.
They have demanded Iajuddin step down as caretaker chief and called for a two-day transport blockade from tomorrow.
Analysts said Iajuddin’s resignation was a remote possibility because he was strongly backed by the BNP and Jamaat.
Khaleda said her party and allies would contest the elections despite a decision by the Awami League and its coalition partners to stay away from the polls. “We have always wanted to go to the polls in accordance with the constitution. It has been our only demand,” Khaleda told a news conference in Dhaka. “Now if a party does not take part in the elections and if that lessens the acceptability of its results, the boycotting party will be blamed for the crime, not the participating party,” Khaleda said.
