Former European Commissioner Ján Figeľ has stressed that the European Union "must not" support a caretaker government in Bangladesh.
“The caretaker government was a unique arrangement which does not exist anywhere else in the world, and in 2011, Bangladesh's Supreme Court ruled that the system of interim administrations was unconstitutional,” Figeľ wrote in an opinion piece titled “The EU must not support a caretaker government in Bangladesh” in EUobserver.
The heightened tension in Bangladesh's political arena has garnered increasing attention from countries, geo-political experts, and political actors from around the world as the political parties in the country gear up for the upcoming general election, to be held later this year or earlier next year.
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The former EU special envoy for freedom of religious belief highlighted the tenure of the previous caretaker government, which “was taken over by the military which extended its 90-day term and postponed elections by over two years from 2006-2008.”
“Political leaders of all parties from across the political spectrum were jailed and indicted on various trumped-up charges by the caretaker government — a common practice by juntas designed to exclude popular political leaders from ever contesting future elections,” the article reads.
Referring to BNP’s demand for a caretaker government, the former EU commissioner writes: “In fact, both of BNP's current co-leaders, Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman, are ineligible to run in the upcoming elections due to convictions which date back to the military-backed caretaker government of 2006-2008.”
Figeľ noted that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s outright rejection to the opposition demand might be linked to her own experience of imprisonment during that period.
The Awami League government has reasoned that in the previous elections, a caretaker government was needed because the Election Commission (EC) never had a legal basis in Bangladesh, he writes.
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“But in January 2022, the country passed a new law promulgating the formation of the EC,” the article reads.
Jan Figeľ, in his opinion piece, highlighted the recent city corporation election in Gazipur.
“Recent local elections in the strategic city of Gazipur in June 2023 were held peacefully and without incident, despite an independent candidate defeating the ruling party's candidate by a narrow margin,” he wrote.
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