Countdown to Bangladesh upcoming 'elections', 3

This page contains a rolling blog containing news, commentary, and analysis as Bangladesh's 'election' day, due to take place on 5 January 2014, approaches.

This page relates to Monday 30 December 2013 to 4 January 2014
To see page dealing with the later period of 5 to 7 January, go here To see page dealing with the earlier period of 23-29 December, go here
To see page dealing with the earlier period of 18-22 December, go here.

SATURDAY 4 JANUARY 2014

7.25 pm: Human Rights Watch statement

Human Rights Watch has issued a statement on the current political situation in Bangladesh. It does not get into the rights and wrongs of the current election, but assesses the human rights situation.

When there are so many different kinds of human rights violations taking place on the part of state bodies and political opponents, it is difficult for human rights oragnisation (and indeed journalists!) to get the balance right. HRW does its best to do so, however:

“For an election to be free and fair, voters need to be able to vote in an atmosphere of free expression and free association,” said Brad Adams, Asia Director. “The actions of Bangladeshi political leaders – whether the government crackdown on the opposition or the opposition complicity in poll violence – deprive the country’s voters of any true choice.”

A rejoinder to my post on the AL polls

I received a 'correction', from Radwan Siddique (who has been involved in the Awami League election campaign) concerning my blog post, What to make of the Al's poll' which was published a month back

For those who did not follow this story at the time, in a nutshell the post concerned a poll 'commissioned' by the AL, undertaken by a company, one of whose owners is an Awami League MP, with the assistance of an international NGO  There was a difference of opinion between the AL and independent statisticians about how the raw data should be weighted. Two versions of the 'poll results' were in circulation - one of which was published in the Independent and Ittefaq newspapers which showed that AL was in the lead by about 6 percent (the 'AL version'), and another set of results published in New Age which showed that BNP was in the lead by 3 percent (the 'independent statistician's' version).

Countdown to Bangladesh upcoming 'elections', (23-29 December)

This page contains a rolling blog containing news, commentary, and analysis as Bangladesh's 'election' day, due to take place on 5 January 2014, approaches. To provide information, tips or analysis please e-mail: bangladeshpolitico@gmail.com or tweet at @davidbangladesh.

This page relates to 23-29 December onwards.

To see page dealing with the current period from 30 December, go here.

To see page dealing with the earlier period of 18-22 December, go here.

SUNDAY, 29 DECEMBER 2013

3.15 pm: A government success ... so far
The objective of the government was to to ensure that the rally did not take place, and so far they have succeeded. Not a single protestor stands in front of the BNP office in Purana Palton. Some BNP leaders who were walking to the office earlier today were arrested. There have been some small clashes in different parts of Dhaka - with one person reported shot dead - but other than that, very limited activity. A clash outside the High Court gates with BNP supporters inside the gates and the police outside (using pink water from a cannon to spice things up!) and another at the press club. But otherwise not very much else.

Countdown to Bangladesh upcoming 'elections' (18-22 December)

This is a rolling blog containing news, commentary, and analysis as Bangladesh's 'election' day, due to take place on 5 January 2014, approaches. To provide information, tips or analysis please e-mail: bangladeshpolitico@gmail.com or tweet at @davidbangladesh.

This page relates to 18-22 December. 
To see page dealing with 30 December onwards.
To see page relating to 23-29 December onwards

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SUNDAY, 22 DECEMBER 2013

10.01 pm: A moment on public opinion .... and the spectre of 'fascism'
With the Awami League or its allies about to win close to, if not in fact, 100 percent of the seats in the new parliament, it is worth while taking a look at what the opinion polls have said - though there have not been any very recent ones published that I know about.

I have written a number of articles and posts on these - and the links for these are at the bottom of this page. Jyoti Rahman however has mapped on a chart the 14 polls that have been published since just before the government came to power in January 2009. He concludes:

In the best interest of party and country

David Bergman

This has been said before countless times – but right now, with Bangladesh sliding fast down a hole, it needs to be stated with even greater urgency.

If there was a moment for Bangladesh’s two political parties to step up to the plate and find a way out of the country’s current political crisis, that time is now.

What has to happen, is something like this.

Within the current constitution, a way has to be found so that a sufficiently level playing field can be created between the two political parties allowing free and fair elections to take place.

Bangladesh elections: Where we are now

A week has passed since I wrote 'Where does Bangladesh go from here', and it is time to take stock of where the country is now in holding its elections due to take place by 24 January.

Since 22 November, the following things have happened:
(a) the election commission announced '5 January' as the date for the election day polls with 2 December as the last date for candidates to give the election committee their nominations:
(b) the BNP organised a long three day 'operod' (siege) against this decision, cutting off districts from the capital, and limiting traffic throughout the country;
(c) the siege resulted in a death toll of at least 20, including in particular the setting on fire of a bus in Dhaka;
(d) the election commission has said that it is thinking of calling in the army to help out with law and order sooner rather than later;
(e) two diplomatic visits have been announced - one involving India's foreign secretary to Dhaka on 4 December and another involving UN's assistant secretary general on 6 December