DHAKA, 28 November 2006 — Thousands of protesters gathered outside Bangladesh’s presidential palace yesterday as the election commission, defying the demands of a leading political alliance, announced a date for elections. The commission set the parliamentary vote for Jan. 21. Police said 50,000 opposition supporters had massed in central Dhaka to press for electoral reforms. Awami League activists chanting “no reforms, no elections” tried to march toward the presidential palace but were held back by riot police who blocked all surrounding roads. “Over 50,000 protesters gathered at four points near the presidential palace,” said police inspector Mahbubur Rahman. “We have barricaded all the roads leading to the Bangabhaban (presidential palace). We also deployed 5,000 troops to prevent any violence,” added assistant superintendent of police Saleh. Abdul Jalil, general secretary of the Awami League, said the protests were aimed at forcing the government to reform the election commission and revise the voters’ list. A 14-party alliance led by Hasina Wajed, chief of the Awami League and a likely top contender in the polls, had asked the interim government in charge of overseeing the vote not to unveil poll details before reorganizing the election commission. The alliance also called for voting lists to be updated before the schedule was announced. It said the current list included 1.4 million fake voters. But the interim government headed by President Iajuddin Ahmed ignored their request, sparking fears of more trouble following weeks of politically-related violence. Jalil said Bangladeshis would not accept the election schedule announced in “haste to stage a farcical vote.” Bangladesh Election Commission Secretary Abdur Rashid Sarkar told reporters the schedule was announced keeping in view the short time ahead of the polls. “We have several days of public holidays in December, which further curtailed the available time. But we need to complete all preparations to hold the election timely,” he added. The run-up to the election has been dogged by violence and by transport blockades called by political groups that eventually forced Chief Election Commissioner M.A. Aziz to go on three months’ leave, leaving one of his deputies, Mahfuzur Rahman, in charge. Two newly-appointed election commissioners were sworn in yesterday evening. Former Inspector General of Police Mudabbir Hossain Chowdhury and retired District Judge Saiful Alam took charge soon after their swearing in. The alliance has accused all officials at the election commission of being biased toward Khaleda Zia, who ended her five-year term as prime minister in October, and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). In a notification yesterday, the election commission set Dec. 10 as the date for filing nominations and Dec. 19 as the last day for the withdrawal of applications. The government’s appointment yesterday of two new election commissioners is also likely to fuel anger in Hasina’s alliance, which earlier urged authorities to discuss such appointments with them. The two were Mudabbir Hossain Chowdhury, former police chief, and Saiful Alam, a former senior official at the state Anti-Corruption Bureau. The bureau was renamed the Anti-Corruption Commission last year and given more power to deal with Bangladesh’s endemic problem of graft and illegal transactions. Police and paramilitary troops held back thousands of protesters on the barricaded streets leading to the palace yesterday. The protesters dispersed peacefully in the afternoon, chanting: “We reject the election schedules, we will resist it,” witnesses said.
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