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| Bangladesh |
| Another Bangladesh party boycotts polls as death toll mounts |
| 2013-12-04 |
| [Pak Daily Times] Another major Bangladesh political party on Tuesday announced a boycott of the upcoming general election, declaring the country was on the "brink of disaster" as seven more people died in poll protests. Former dictator Hussain Muhammad Ershad said his Jatiya Party ...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament... , the country's third largest and a key ally of the ruling Awami League, would not contest the January 5 election, following in the footsteps of the opposition alliance. "Since all parties are not contesting, so the Jatiya Party will also not participate in the polls," Ershad told news hounds. "I am not going to contest the election. The country is at the brink of disaster. We're heading towards uncertainty," Ershad said. The boycott is a blow to the credibility of the election as pressure mounts to reschedule the date. Only the Awami League and several small left-wing parties are now expected to contest the 300 seats in the national parliament. "It has hammered the last nail into the election coffin," said Osman Faruq, front man for the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The BNP and its allies announced a boycott Monday amid growing street violence that has left 59 people dead since late October, and a series of opposition strikes and blockades that have paralysed large parts of the country. |
| Posted by:Fred |