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PM's New Stance

Crisis to deepen

Shakhawat Liton
It is clear that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has further hardened the government's stance on the polls by backtracking from her earlier announcement of holding the general election by dissolving the present parliament.
Around a year ago, on September 19 last, Sheikh Hasina announced in parliament that the next general election would be held after the dissolution of the House.
Her announcement had paved the way for the removal of at least one of the two hurdles - scrapping the non-partisan caretaker government system and the constitutional provision for retaining parliament during the time of the election.
But the situation is now back to square one through her Monday's announcement that the election would be held without the dissolution of parliament.
In the view of political analysts, this may add fresh fuel to a deepening of the ongoing political crisis centring on the polls.
Hasina is now relying on a constitutional provision reintroduced by her government in 2011. The provision stipulates that polls will be held within 90 days prior to the expiry of a parliament's tenure. If parliament is dissolved before its tenure ends, the election will be held within 90 days of its dissolution.
This odd provision had actually been present in the country's constitution since 1972. But the provision was never applied as none of the parliaments between 1972 and 2001 actually completed their tenures.
With the introduction of the caretaker government system in 1 996, this peculiar provision was replaced by a new one that said elections would be held within 90 days of a parliament's dissolution.
In line with this provision, which the premier has now clearly opted for, the forthcoming polls will be held any day between October 27 this year and January 24 next year. The present parliament will complete its five-year tenure on January 25.
The prime minister's statement raises the question of whether, given that MPs seeking reelection will remain in office at the time of the election, a level playing field will be ensured for all political parties before and during the voting.
Countries like the UK, birthplace of the Westminster system; India, the world's largest parliamentary democracy; New Zealand, Canada, and Australia do not have such provisions in their constitutions. Parliaments in those countries get dissolved before general elections.
It is learnt that Hasina changed her position following the opposition's rigid stance on its demand for a restoration of the non-partisan care-
takergovernmentsystem.
This reminds one of almost a similar event which took place more than a decade ago.
In her first term as prime minister, Hasina backtracked from an announcement she had made regarding parlia-mentary polls.
In response to her archrival BNP chief Khaleda Zia's demand on March 7, 2001, for holding the eighth parliamen-tary polls in May the same year, a few months before the due time, Hasina announced that the Awami League was ready for the polls before June 12.
Three d ays a fte r Khaleda Zia had raised the demand, Hasina made the announcement at a views exchange meeting with Bangladeshi expatriates in Saudi Arabia.
Even on March 19, 2001, she stated that she would hand over power to the caretaker government any day after April 17.
The BNP-Jamaat-led four-party alliance, however, showed little patience with Hasina's announcement and issued an ultimatum on
March 21 asking the government to resign by March 30. The alliance threatened to enforce a non-stop hartal on April 1 and 2 if the demand was not met.
Hasina reacted sharply to the ultimatum. On March 23, she gave a challenge to Khaleda to oust her government if they could before July 13, 2001, the last day of her government's tenure.
Her shift from the announcement to hold the polls before the due time did not make the election uncertain. Her government handed over power to the caretaker government on July 15, 2001. And the eighth parliamen-tary election was held in October 1,2001.
This time, the situation is the reverse. The scrapping of the caretaker government system allows the Hasina government to stay in office during the next polls, a situation the BNP-led opposition has vehemently been opposed to.
Such a state of affairs only raises the level of uncertainty over the fate of the next general election.