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| Bangladesh |
| BD opposition calls off election boycott |
| 2006-12-25 |
| Bangladesh’s opposition announced Sunday they had called off a boycott of next month’s general elections, ending months of damaging and deadly protests over alleged plans to rig the vote. The about-turn came after the embattled interim government agreed to implement a raft of electoral reforms, and amid fears the crisis in the politically polarised South Asian nation could spiral out of control.“We have decided to take part in the elections,” a senior official from the main opposition Awami League, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, told reporters. “We will now hold meetings with our alliance partners to discuss the sharing of parliamentary seats,” he added, as the opposition parties said they would form a coalition with other opposition parties to fight the election. The Awami League and its allies had vowed to stay away from the January 22 elections, complaining the polls would be rigged in favour of the BNP. Repeated strikes, blockades and protests have disrupted business life, costing the impoverished country millions of dollars each day. Pre-poll political violence has also claimed at least 35 lives, injured thousands and forced the interim government to call out the army to keep order. Earlier this week the country’s interim government made two key concessions, including sending a controversial election chief on extended leave and abandoning a voter list alleged to contain millions of fake names. The Awami League had initially said the reforms did not go far enough, however, later agreed to participate in the elections after the government agreed to implement most of their demands for electoral reforms. |
| Posted by:Fred |