Bangladesh goes to polls today

Dhaka: Electioneering drew to a close on Saturday night after two weeks of hectic campaign for Bangladesh first general elections in seven years today.

Former prime ministers Khalida Zia of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and her arch rival Shaikh Hasina of Awami League wound up their campaigns with nationwide televised speech on Saturday evening in their bids, particularly to woo the young people.

The election commission had earlier said that some 33 per cent of the voters were enrolled for the first time. The country had been under emergency rule in the last two years.

Zia in her speech promised not to seek revenge against the armed forces for her "sufferings during the emergency rules" in the past two years, while Hasina appreciated the reform campaigns initiated by the interim administration, which was crucially backed by military during the period.

"Propaganda is underway that if we form government, the armed forces might be subjected to reprisals for their 'special role' during the state of emergency. I want to say unequivocally that we don't believe in taking revenge," said Zia, whose BNP leads the four-party alliance in the polls with Jamaat-e-Islami being the main ally.

Zia "apologised" for "mistakes, if any" during her past tenures in government, launched a bitter attack on Awami League but urged Hasina to work together for the development of the country. But Hasina, in her speech, sought a mandate for her alliance's "charter for change" but feared that efforts were underway by her rivals to manipulate votes using black money.

Money power

"Please do not sell your conscience to the black money ... the money they will offer you were looted from you during the rule of the BNP-Jamaat alliance... Reject them in the ballot," she said.

The two top political leaders are often dubbed as "battling begums" in media as their harsh rivalry was earlier blamed for the rise of confrontational politics in Bangladesh eventually inviting the state of emergency on January 11, 2007 with crucial military support.

The interim government of Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmad launched a massive campaign for political and electoral reforms sending behind the bar nearly 200 high profile people, including Zia and Hasina to face corruption charges.

Zia and Hasina came out on bail to face the trial from outside, while dozens of former ministers and lawmakers of the two parties were debarred from polls after being convicted by special graft courts under emergency rules.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday urged the major political parties to act responsibly accepting the peoples' verdict in "Bangladesh's highly significant parliamentary election" today.

"He [Ban Ki-moon] appeals to all political parties to continue to demonstrate responsibility, participate fully and honour the will of the Bangladeshi people," said Francesc Vendrell, the visiting Head of UN High-Level Panel, at a press briefing on the eve the polls as the major parties wound up campaigns.

The elections are being held under unprecedented security measures with nearly 48,000 army troops and more than 600,000 policemen deployed to guard the polling booths.

The authorities earlier ordered extra security measures for Zia and Hasina after reports of militant threats to them.

As many as 81,058,698 voters would cast their ballots to choose from 1,552 candidates vying for the 300 seats in Parliament.

The winning coalition needs 151 of the 300 seats to form government. The voting would be done for the first time under new digitised electoral roll made with the help of the UNDP to rule out "ghost voting".

Political analysts say there are no clear favourites and the fight is expected to be close one, with a slight tilt towards Awami League as BNP has to ward off anti-incumbency factor.

Do you think the new political leadership will be able to restore democracy? How do you see the elections changing the socio-political scenario in Bangladesh?

I think the military government is best for the country, as it did help people in a lot of ways.
Mohammad
Chittagong,Bangladesh
Posted: December 29, 2008, 08:21