DHAKA – Bangladesh president Iajuddin Ahmed has signed an order to end emergency rule ahead of a December 29th parliamentary election, officials said yesterday, as the army chief reconfirmed a military pledge to support democracy.
The national election will end two years of rule by a military-backed interim authority that took over amid violence and political turmoil in January 2007, cancelling an election.
Investors and diplomats hope the vote will mark a move away from Bangladesh’s history of street politics, sporadic bouts of military rule, and endemic corruption, which have held it back from tackling massive poverty and ending dependence on foreign aid.
The interim authority’s emergency rule banned most political activities, and government officials said the president’s order would lift it, effective on Wednesday, in line with previous commitments to provide a free political atmosphere for a fair and credible vote on December 29th.
Separately, in a televised pre-recorded speech to mark the December 16th anniversary of Bangladeshs 1971 independence, army chief Gen Moeen U Ahmed said: “The Bangladesh army, playing a great peacekeeping role under the UN command, is not eager to assume a political role. Rather we would like to see Bangladesh achieve a democratic government through a fair and credible election. We would help the government by all means.” Some analysts and international groups have raised concerns the military, which provided three of the ministers in the interim authority, may be tempted to get involved in politics after the December vote, either behind the scenes or more directly if the new government cannot maintain stability.
Army generals ruled Bangladesh for 15 years – in uniforms or civilian suits – until late 1990, when Gen Hossain Mohammad Ershad was toppled in a popular uprising led by Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia, who rotated as prime minister over the next 15 years.
The two women are top contenders in the coming polls, though they were arrested and put into prison for a year by the interim authority for alleged graft.
They lead the biggest political parties, the Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party, in the Indian Ocean country of more than 140 million people.
Election commissioner Sakhawat Hossain said on Monday security had been tightened ahead of the polls as intelligence reports said Islamist militants might attack to thwart the vote.