BANGLADESH: Fourteen alliance party in Bangladesh continue their protests for changes in the country's election commission

Bangladesh's Election Commission said on Thursday (December 7) parliamentary elections will be held on Jan. 23 and the voters' list will be updated next week as demanded by a 14-party alliance led by the Awami League. The commission had earlier set the election for Jan. 21, but it prompted protests from the alliance which had been demanding a revised voters' list and removal of election officials, accused of a bias towards its main rival. The Awami League has led violent protests and blockades, demanding reforms in the election commission to ensure a free and fair poll. "Next time we will siege only the Banga Bhavan (Presidential Palace) continuously, till we achieve the voting rights of the people and assurance for a free and fare election in the country," says Bahauddin Nasim, a 14 Alliance party leader. Election Commission Secretary Abdur Rashid Sarkar said according to the new schedule, the last date for filing of nominations would be Dec. 21 and the deadline for withdrawing applications would be Dec 28. Awami's main rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had insisted the vote go ahead as originally scheduled and accused Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina of trying to subvert the democratic process in the impoverished nation of 140 million. Sarkar said election officials and volunteers would go from door to door across Bangladesh to update the voters' list by Dec. 15. Bangladesh's constitution dictates that election must be held within three months after expiry of the previous government's tenure. The caretaker authority asked the commission to announce the new poll schedule after consulting the major political parties, officials said. They said they were also trying to make some changes in the election commission to implement demands by Hasina's alliance, but gave n o details BNP leader Begum Khaleda Zia ended her five-year tenure as prime minister on Oct. 28, handing power to a caretaker administration headed by President Iajuddin Ahmed. At least 44 people have been killed and hundreds injured in clashes between rival activists across the country since Khaleda's tenure expired.

ITN Source | December 8, 2006

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