Bangladesh general elections to be held on Jan 7, 2024
Elections
The general elections in Bangladesh will be held on January 7, 2024, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal announced on Wednesday (Nov 15).
The announcement was made in a televised speech for the first time in the history of Bangladesh.
Earlier, the chief election commissioners used to air the recorded version of the polls schedule to address the nation, Dhaka Tribune reports.
November 30 will be the last day to file nomination papers, and they will be scrutinised from December 1 to December 4.
The last date for withdrawal of candidature is December 17, while on December 18, the EC will allot election symbols to candidates, Awal said.
Political parties can start campaigning from December 18 to January 5, 2024 midnight, the CEC said.
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Violent protests rock Bangladesh
The announcement comes amid violent protests by opposition parties demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for a caretaker government to take over.
Since October 28, at least four people, including a policeman, were killed and hundreds injured in violent protests.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), whose top leadership is either jailed or in exile, has previously said that it would boycott the upcoming national elections if PM Hasina does not resign and allows voting under a caretaker government, Reuters reported.
Local media reports stated that around 8,000 opposition leaders and activists, including BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, have been arrested in a nationwide crackdown.
Hasina has tightly ruled the South Asian country since coming to power in 2009. However, her rule has been widely criticised for human rights violations, cracking down on free speech and suppressing dissent while jailing her critics.
Crackdown on dissenters
Her main rival and two-time prime minister, BNP leader Khaleda Zia, has been under house arrest over corruption charges, which her party calls are engineered. Her son and BNP's acting chairman, Tarique Rahman, is in exile after several charges were brought against him that he denies.
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Hasina's government is also facing pressure from Western countries to hold "free and fair" elections, notes Reuters news agency.
The United States, the top buyer of Bangladeshi garments, said in May it was implementing a policy allowing for the restriction of visas to Bangladeshis who undermine the democratic election process in the country of nearly 170 million people.
(With inputs from agencies)