Election campaigning starts in Bangladesh
Updated
Campaigning for elections to restore democratic rule in Bangladesh has begun, amid expectations the military-backed government will lift a state of emergency tomorrow.
The military intervened in early 2007, after violent clashes between supporters of the-then ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the opposition Awami League. Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, has a history of instability and coups since independence in 1971.
The International Crisis Group has warned the situation remains "complex and fragile"... while others say Bangladeshis are looking forward to polling day.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Zafar Sobhan is the Opinions editor of The Daily Star in Bangladesh
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SOBHAN: Of course, everyone is quite anxious because we've been looking forward to these elections for the last two years, but we are still mindful, there are still pitfalls ahead of us. And we're just all hoping that the elections go off without a hitch. While we are anxious, nevertheless I think there's a fair amount of optimism that this time we'll finally get elections.
LAM: And Zafar the coming elections will be the first democratic ones in seven years I understand ...
SOBHAN: That is correct.
LAM: Yes and you still have though the same problems haven't you, I mean for instance not much has changed with the former ruling BNP, its arch rival the Awami League, you have the two battling Begums; Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina Wajid. There doesn't seem to be fresh political talent to lead the country?
SOBHAN: I think at this particular moment the voters are not too concerned with that. I think there's quite an anxiety to get back to democracy as soon as possible. And right now I think people are willing to go with the existing party and the existing leadership because there's nothing else on the horizon. I think once we get back to democracy then as a country which needs to do a lot of thinking in terms of who the next generation of political leadership will be. So while people are not hugely keen on the existing political party leadership, they do realise that at the present moment in time, that's all we've got. People will be voting in large numbers.
LAM: So you're saying then that the electorate is quite ready to have their say again in national politics, after two years of an army-backed government? That they think this is at least some start?
SOBHAN: Absolutely, people are very, very willing to get back to democracy. We had local government elections in August and those were very well .. er, you know, this is some mayoral and city council elections, and the turnout was very high. The Daily Star, the newspaper I work for, conducted a poll about three weeks ago with A. C. Neilson - one of the questions we asked was whether people intended to vote in the elections and whether they were looking forward to the elections. And what we registered as a very large poll of about five-thousand likely voters around the country, was that there was a great deal of enthusiasm for the elections.
LAM: And for all the misgivings about the military-backed government, did they bring something to the table ..? Did they achieve anything in the two years interim administration?
SOBHAN: Well yes they certainly, they started off with a very ambitious agenda but the bulk of which remains unfulfilled, and a lot of it also is dependent on the actions the incoming government will take. For instance, the anti-corruption drive, nevertheless there are some very tangible benefits. What they have managed to do successfully is draw the best voter list we've ever had in Bangladesh. Over I believe it's 30-million fake names who were purged from the voter list. There were over 90-million people who were registered, and now we have a very accurate voter list of about 81-million voters with photo-id. We can be then fairly confident in the voter list and hopefully we can be fairly confident in the elections which are coming up. So that's quite an achievement.
