Bangladesh's Chief Election Commissioner on Wednesday announced that the next parliamentary elections will be held on January 7 next year, amid increased political tensions following the opposition's campaign demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation to allow an interim government to conduct the polls.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal announced the schedule for the upcoming elections while addressing the nation. This came as the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) enforced a 48-hour blockade to pressure the Awami League government.
This is the first time the polls have been announced in a televised speech. Earlier, a recorded version of the election schedule used to be announced by CECs.
Ahead of the announcement, security was beefed up in the capital and other major cities as BNP and its far-right allies waged a street
campaign demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government to allow a non-party interim government to conduct the general elections.
The ruling Awami League has rejected the demand, saying elections would be held under the incumbent premier Hasina, who also rejected proposals for dialogue with the Opposition by the US and other major Western countries, going so far as to call the BNP a terrorist organisation.
Police on Wednesday warned that any acts of arson or sabotage would be strictly dealt with, as the BNP began the fifth phase of their nationwide transport blockade to spearhead its campaign against the Hasina-led government.
“We have taken all steps to ensure security,” Dhaka’s police commissioner Habibur Rahman told Bangladeshi media. Police and paramilitary forces were deployed outside the Election Commission building to ensure law and order.