Bangladesh Should Hold Elections Soon, Says Key Political Party
(Bloomberg) -- Polls in Bangladesh must be held quickly to ensure stability and security in the South Asian nation, said a senior member of one of the country’s main political parties.
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“Elections should take place as soon as possible because the reforms that political parties and the nation are looking for can only be done by a parliament,” said Rumeen Farhana, a lawyer turned lawmaker and a leader in the opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. “The people’s will is the last word and they can express that by exercising their right to choose.”
Sheikh Hasina, one of Asia’s longest-serving leaders, resigned and fled Bangladesh on Aug. 5 under pressure from scores of protesters who demanded she step down. The demonstrations, which were largely led by students, turned deadly as police and pro-government supporters clashed with protesters. More than 350 people were killed in recent weeks.
An interim government was appointed in Bangladesh on Thursday, led by Nobel Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus. Yunus’s administration and Bangladesh’s president haven’t commented on when polls will be held.
Farhana said the Yunus-led interim government has “a reasonable amount of time to steady the ship to hold elections.” But she didn’t specify how long political parties were willing to wait. An interim government in 2006 took about two years to hold a national vote.
The former lawmaker said the current situation was different and not comparable. “There was no revolution in 2006. This time it is revolution,” she said.
Weeks of unrest have made Bangladesh’s economy “susceptible to a collapse,” according to Moody’s Analytics, which slashed its growth forecast and said the country was in the “midst of a currency crisis.” Restoring order and holding elections represent the biggest tests for the Yunus-led interim government.
The former lawmaker also said that Hasina’s political party, the Awami League, should contest the next elections and there was no way Islamist political parties could be barred from the polls.
The Awami League should be allowed to run in the elections “no matter how bad or autocratic they are,” she said.
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