Bangladesh

Emergency rule scrapped 12 days before election

Article published on the 2008-12-17 Latest update 2008-12-20 09:35 TU

A girl waves the Bangladesh flag during an election rally of Awami League
(Photo: Reuters)

Bangladesh's military-imposed government has scrapped the emergency rule which was imposed 23 months ago, when feuding between political parties led the army to sack the government and start a massive anti-corruption drive. The country's top political leaders had threatened to boycott the poll if the emergency was not ended.

National police chief Nur Mohammad on Wednesday confirmed that a presidential order to lift the emergency at one minute past midnight had been implemented.

Security had been tightened around the country in case of a repetition of the inter-party fighting which dogged the country before the state of emergency. No incidents were reported.

Party leaders demanded the change because they claimed the state of emergency hampered their ability to campaign.

The measure repeals laws brought in on 11 January 2007. It also ended the nationwide anti-corruption drive led by the National Co-ordination Council.

The council had ordered the arrests of hundreds of politicians, including the leaders of the two principal parties. Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party's Khaleda Zia both spent a year in jail on graft charges but were released ahead of the campaign.

An election commission set up to prepare for the poll has worked well, removing millions of fake voters from the electoral rolls, says former Foreign Minister Kamal Hussein who leads the small People's Forum party.

But he believes that the anti-corruption campaign has run out of steam.

"About four months ago, the whole campaign seemed to fall apart because people who are known to be notoriously corrupt suddenly emerged under orders of bail," he told RFI.

The parties should admit that some of their members were corrupt, says Hussein.

"The rule of law must be strictly upheld, because … the illegally armed cadres of the parties should not start taking the field and intimidating voters and carrying on other kinds of activities."