No B’desh polls before late 2008

BANGLADESH: A top Bangladesh election commissioner Thursday ruled out new polls before late 2008 in order to have time to revise the country’s voter list.

“We will need at least 18 months to prepare the voters list. Pragmatically speaking, this is the least amount of time we need to prepare the ground for credible elections,” deputy election commissioner Shakhwat Hossain said.

After months of violent political turmoil, Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed cancelled polls slated for late January and declared a state of emergency, paving the way for the installation of a military-backed government.

The new government vowed to clean up politics and installed new chiefs at the election commission to carry out sweeping reforms, including coming up with a new voter list with no errors.

The main opposition Awami League had complained ahead of the January polls that the voter list prepared by a previous election commission contained millions of fake names.

It also alleged the then chief election commissioner supported the outgoing Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led coalition.

On Thursday Hossain, appointed by the new government, said concerns would be addressed in the new list. There would also be improved voter ID, he added.

“It is a huge task and we want to do it the best way possible. The United Nations is helping us with consultants and financing of the huge project,” he said. “We are taking time because we don’t want to hold farcical elections.”

The government, now led by former central bank governor Fakhruddin Ahmed, has launched a massive anti-graft crackdown in the past three months which has included the arrests of more than 45 high-profile politicians.

It also banned political activity for an indefinite period.

But Hossain said the commission had asked the government to lift the ban so that it could hold talks with the political parties on the proposed reforms.

“We urged the law adviser (current justice minister) to lift the ban on indoor politics. We cannot hold talks with the parties unless the ban is withdrawn. He said he would discuss the issue with the head of the interim government,” Hossain said.

“In the meantime, we will talk with the civil society about the reforms. And everything we are doing is to hold free and fair elections in the country.”

On Thursday, the commission also unveiled tough new candidate eligibility rules, saying these would be enacted by July this year.

Under the reforms, the government would bar loan and utility bill defaulters from taking part in any future polls while political parties would have to declare the sources of their funds.

Meanwhile the opposition-party mayor of Bangladesh’s fourth-largest city was arrested Friday as part of the military-backed government’s nationwide crackdown on corruption, police said.

Badruddin Ahmed Kamran, mayor of the northeastern city of Sylhet, was taken from his government house after a warrant was issued for several corruption cases, police sub-inspector Harunur Rashid said.

“He has already been sent to jail,” the officer said.

Kamran, also the regional party chief of the main opposition party Awami League, is a two-time mayor of the city of half a million people.

But he has been widely accused of selling state-owned properties at throwaway prices.

Last month the mayor of Chittagong, Bagnaldesh’s second-largest city, was arrested in the anti-graft drive.

Nearly 50 top-ranking politicians including the son of outgoing Prime Minister Khaleda Zia have been arrested since the crackdown was launched in February.

On Wednesday an anti-graft watchdog issued an arrest warrant for Harris Chowdhury, Zia’s once-powerful political secretary, after he failed to follow orders to submit a wealth statement.

Dhaka, Friday, AFP