BNP senior leader Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan on Saturday said the 2008 national election in Bangladesh was neither free nor fair, nor impartial, claiming that it was an orchestrated and controlled one.
“I am compelled to say that the 2008 election was not free, fair, or impartial. It was a planned, rigged and controlled election,” he said while addressing a discussion.
Dr Moyeen, a BNP Standing Committee member, said the 1/11 government in 2008 had an unethical plan to depoliticise Bangladesh. “Although that plan eventually failed, an election was held with the help of certain quarters and it was portrayed internationally as free and fair, but in reality, it was not.”
He said different types of propaganda were there at the time as there were millions of fake voters and that BNP was falsely blamed for it.
“I have to reveal the historical truth. Many citizens were registered either in their village home or at their workplace in the city at that time. Due to the system, some were listed twice, but no one voted twice. They voted either at home or in the city, depending on where they were on the election day,” the BNP leader explained.
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A group of former Dhaka College students organised the programme to mark the anniversary of the July–August mass uprising and the fall of fascism, paying tributes to those who were martyred or injured.
Dr Moyeen said the false history created by the Awami League, resulting in the 1/11 political changeover, must be exposed.
He said the 1/11 government prepared a new voter list and conducted a national election. “But that vote was a completely controlled and lopsided one.”
The BNP leader alleged that the entire election was a planned one, with the allocation of the 300 parliamentary seats decided days before polling, allowing the Awami League to form the government. “As a result, Bangladesh was destroyed politically, morally, economically, culturally and religiously over the past 15 years,” the BNP leader observed.
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He said the mass uprising in 2024 was the culmination of a 15-year struggle by BNP and other democratic forces amid oppression, when students and ordinary people finally rose up.
The BNP leader said the then Awami League government acted desperately, killing people of all ages -- from children and youths to workers and the elderly -- even firing from helicopters to cling to power.
He said when the interim government was formed following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime, BNP assured it of full cooperation to enable people to embrace democracy and form a government through a free and fair election.
Dr Moyeen said the interim government has indicated that the next national election is expected to be held before Ramadan in February. “We hope the Election Commission will now officially fix the specific date and election schedule.”