Bangla EC refuses to budge on poll timeframe

DHAKA: Bangladesh's Election Commission on Saturday reaffirmed its stand that elections in the emergency-ruled country can be held only after 18 months despite mounting international pressure and calls by major political parties to hold the polls at the earliest.

"If possible the task would be completed before that time, but I cannot officially give you any time less than 18 months," Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda said at a meeting with editors and senior journalists.

He said the timeframe was fixed after reviewing the experiences of neighbouring countries including India in preparing the electoral roll with photographs. "We have taken their experiences and successes into consideration in fixing the timeframe."

Huda, however, said immediately after completion of the voters' list, the commission would announce the schedule "without any delay".

His comments came days after an Election Commission member said they planned to prepare the voter list in eight months, revising the earlier timeframe of 18 months, as they assessed the number of voters to be about 7.5 crore, about two crore less than the number on the last electoral roll.

"We now hope the list will be prepared much before the expiration of the 18-month timeframe," Election Commissioner Sahul Hossain told reporters early this week adding that the constitutional body would require less time than calculated earlier as the number of enumerators was increased.

Also an Army team that met the EC subsequently said that the list could be completed in six months by engaging troops in the process.

But the Army clarified the statement saying the time requirement estimated by the military technical team on preparing the voters' list should not be confused with the time mentioned by the Election Commission (EC) regarding enrollment.

"The time mentioned by the military expert team is only a part of the total time required by the EC as the other factors like procurement of equipment, software loading after import, recruitment and training of 24,000 operators required were not included in their proposed deadline for to complete data collection," a statement from Inter Service Public relations said.

Meanwhile, general secretary of former PM Shikh Hasina's Awami League Abdul Jalil on Saturday said that the Election Commission's 18-month timeframe to prepare a voter roll is "nothing but its stubbornness".

"In the prevailing circumstances, the earlier an election is held the better for the nation," he said.  Awami League and rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of former premier Khaleda Zia have been demanding that the ban on political activities be lifted.

On January 11 this year, President Iajuddin Ahmed proclaimed the state of emergency postponing the earlier scheduled general elections amid protracted political conflicts between Awami League and BNP.

Chief Adviser of the caretaker government Fakhruddin Ahmed on Friday said he expected the polls to be held before the end of 2008 amid mounting international pressure.

US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher told Bangladesh's foreign secretary two days ago that his country was hopeful that there would be more detailed timeline to be announced by the interim non-party government "leading to the arrangement of free and fair elections at the earliest".

US presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton and her 14 colleagues in Senate have also asked the caretaker administration to lift emergency soon and announce within two months a clear roadmap towards a fair elections.

Law Adviser of the interim cabinet Mainul Hosein said the government attached importance to "valued opinion of Bangladesh's friends, but people of this country would have to solve their own problems".

"They are our important friends in re-establishment of democracy in the country. But they should understand the problems we are facing in re-establishing democracy," he told the private UNB news agency.