 "Awami League supporters protest against Yunus government outside Blair House in Washington. Image: PTI")
Bangladesh’s Awami League party has announced that it rejects the Election Commission’s election schedule announced on Thursday, calling the poll body “illegal and biased.”
“The Awami League has closely reviewed the election schedule announced by the illegal, occupying and killer fascist Yunus clique’s illegal EC. It is now clear that the current occupying authority is entirely biased and that, under their control, it is impossible to ensure a fair and normal environment,” it said in a statement.
Bangladesh will hold its first national election after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina on February 12, Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin has announced.
Awami League banned from polls
Sheikh Hasina’s party has been banned from running in the elections by the interim government led by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, meaning that the Awami League cannot register for the upcoming polls.
“The Awami League has the strength, courage and capacity to stand before the people…Attempting to hold an election while excluding the…Awami League – the party that led the Liberation War – along with other political parties and the majority of the population, is a scheme to push the country and the nation into a deep crisis," the party said in its statement.
The Awami League insisted that all restrictions placed on the party “must be lifted,” all “fabricated cases” against Hasina and other national leaders be withdrawn, and all political prisoners be released unconditionally. It further demanded that the interim government be replaced with a “neutral caretaker government to hold a free and participatory election.”
Bangladesh elections
Nasir Uddin said the campaigning will start on January 22 and conclude at 7:30 am on February 10.
Elections will be held on 300 parliamentary seats, according to Nasir Uddin. Currently, Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is seen as a frontrunner.
Nasir Uddin said the national referendum on the ‘July charter’ will also be held on the same day. The charter refers to proposed reforms to the state’s affairs following the ouster of Hasina’s government.