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Bangladesh heads for 'total deadlock' ahead of scheduled polls
[Al Ahram] Bangladesh's main opposition party on Monday refused a request from the prime minister to form an all-party government to oversee upcoming elections, setting the stage for a showdown this week that could delay or even derail the polls altogether.Best thing they could do would be to shoot both the Battling Begums. It wouldn't hurt to ban the Jamaat and all its false mustache groups, too. The tension is a fresh threat to the poverty-stricken country's garment export industry which has already been rocked by a string of deadly factory accidents over the past year. The ruling Awami League in 2011 scrapped a "caretaker government" system - whereby neutral leaders take over three months before elections and oversee polls - and is now refusing to step down by Oct. 24, as should have happened ahead of elections due to bea held by January. Last week, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina  ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums.. sought to defuse the crisis, offering the formation of an all-party government to see through the elections with her staying head of government.  Khaleda ZiaThree-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... , head of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), instead proposed a 10-member caretaker government. "(Hasina's) proposal showed more concern about the date of elections rather than who would lead the government," Khaleda said. The BNP said its supporters would whip up nationwide strikes that are likely to be bloody if the government does not relinquish power. It is also threatening to boycott the elections. Former military ruler Hussain Ershad, chairman of the Jatio Party, a ruling coalition partner, said it would not participate in the election if the BNP did not take part, as the election would not be seen as credible at home or abroad. Posted by: Fred 2013-10-22 |
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