DHAKA: The leader of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the country’s main opposition party, Khaleda Zia on Tuesday urged the people to march to the capital Dhaka on December 29 to protest against the upcoming elections, saying that it is not an election but a shameless selection.
The country will witness the elections on January 5 but the opposition, led by the BNP leader Khaleda Zia, said that it will not participate unless an neutral caretaker government is installed and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the leader of Awami League resigns.
However, the government insisted it would go ahead with the polls despite a boycott by opposition parties and major foreign nations announcing they will not send any election observers.
The United States, European Union (EU) and the Commonwealth countries have said that they will not send observers in Bangladesh to monitor elections, raising questions about the polls as the winners of more than half of the seats in the 300-seat parliament have already been elected unopposed.
It means technically that Hasina’s Awami League government could form a government even before ballots are cast as the party and its allies have won 154 seats.
