Jatiya Oikyafront’s leader Dr Kamal Hossain today urged law enforcers against following unlawful orders.  

Bringing allegation that the government has taken total control of police and administration, he said, “I have never seen such a situation in my life.”

Kamal, also the president of Gonoforum, was addressing a press briefing just before Jatiya Oikyafront’s manifesto was unveiled at a city hotel in Dhaka.

“Our candidates are arrested everywhere. Not even one of our candidates has been spared from attack and harm,” he claimed.

 Dr Kamal also recast a shadow of doubt over the fairness of the upcoming polls.

“Ensure the polls are held in the way the public wants,” Dr Kamal urged everyone.

If fair and credible polls are not held then the country will be pushed into a terrifying situation, Dr Kamal said.

The veteran leader also echoed the statement of students’ who were protesting for safer roads and said “this country needs to be repaired.”

Unemployment allowance will be introduced for those above the age of 30, Jatiya Oikyafront said in its election manifesto unveiled today.

A commission will be formed to examine the state’s ability to introduce such an allowance system, it said.

There would be no age limit to joining government services except those of policy and defence forces.

There would be no quota except for the backward community and physically challenged people.

All vacant posts in government services will be filled up in the next three years.

A minimum allowance will be provided for the educated old people and they would be provided with part-time jobs.

Examinations for Primary Education Completion Certificate for class five students and Junior School certificate for class eight students will be cancelled.

A single admission test will be introduced for admission to all public universities.

Madrassa students will be educated in technical trainings and employment will be provided abroad for them. A commission will be formed for reform of Madrassa education with focus on employment.

WHAT IS JATIYA OIKYAFRONT?

The Jatiya Oikyafront is an alliance of the BNP, Dr Kamal Hossain-led Jatiya Oikya Prokriya, ASM Abdur Rob’s Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, and Mahmudur Rahman Manna’s Nagorik Oikya.

The Oikyafront was formed on October 13 with the demands of a national election under a neutral government after dissolution of parliament and release of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia from jail.

WHAT ARE OIKYAFRONT’S AGENDAS?

Formed with major political oppositions to ruling alliance, the Oikyafront includes ruling Awami League’s arch opposition BNP.

Currently, they are campaigning with a seven-point charter including freedom for BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and election under a nonpartisan government.

WHAT ARE OIKYAFRONT’S DEMANDS?

The 11-point goal announced by the alliance includes ensuring checks and balances in the state power, decentralisation of administration, freeing MPs from the stringent restrictions imposed on them under article 70 of the constitution, formation of a constitutional commission to make appointments to all constitutional and other important posts and full independence of the judiciary.

The alliance also announced a seven-point demand, including the one for holding the next parliamentary election under a nonpartisan government, dissolution of parliament before the polls and reconstitution of the Election Commission.

The European Parliament has announced that it will not observe the upcoming national election in Bangladesh.

“The European Parliament will not observe this electoral process and consequently will neither comment on the process nor on the results that will be announced afterwards. Moreover, there will be no European Union Election Observation Mission,” the EP said in a statement in Brussels yesterday.

The European Union's top diplomat in Dhaka indicated that the decision was taken due to “resource constraints”.

“No individual Member of the European Parliament [MEP] has been mandated to observe or comment on this electoral process on its behalf,” the co-chairs of the EP's Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group said in the statement.

“Any statements made by Members of the European Parliament on these elections therefore do not represent in any way the view of the European Parliament or the European Union.”

The statement was issued by MEPs David McAllister and Linda McAvan. The EU Delegation to Bangladesh also issued the same statement yesterday.

The EP stated its position on the election in its resolution of November 15, 2018. It hoped that the December 30 polls would be “peaceful, transparent and participatory so that citizens can express a genuine political choice”.

The EP called upon the political forces to refrain from any violence or instigation of violence during the electoral period.

The EU last month informed the Bangladesh Election Commission that it would not send its full-fledged election observer mission. It said only two “electoral experts” would be deployed.

As per that decision, electoral experts David Noel Ward and Eirini-Maria Gounari arrived in Bangladesh on Tuesday. The two will be staying here till January 15 next year.

Asked why the European Parliament decided not to observe the national election, which would be participated by all political parties, EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Rensje Teerink said the European Parliament sends a very small number of observers only when the EU deploys a fully-fledged observation mission. 

“As this time the EU does not send an Election Observer Mission; the European Parliament is not sending observers. From the EU side, we see a growing demand from partner countries to have an EU Election Observer Mission. In the context of constrained resources, the EU has to make a difficult choice on where to deploy,” she told The Daily Star.

Earlier, the EU had cancelled sending election observer missions to Bangladesh in 2006 when the election was postponed amid violence and anarchy, and in 2014 when more than half of the 300 parliamentary seats were won uncontested.

EU AMBASSADOR MEETS ECs

“We hope a good contest and free and fair election will be held,” Ambassador Rensje Teerink told reporters after meeting the election commissioners at the Nirbachan Bhaban yesterday.

Teerink was accompanied by the two electoral experts of the EU. The experts, David Noel Ward and Erini-Maria Gourani, arrived in Dhaka on Tuesday to monitor the situation before and after the national election.

“We had a good meeting with the CEC and his colleagues,” she told reporters.

EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed at another briefing said the expert team expressed satisfaction over the atmosphere.

The United States will send 12 teams of observers and fund thousands of domestic observers to monitor an election in Bangladesh it hopes will be free and fair, a senior official at the US Embassy in Dhaka said.

Amid opposition concerns about rigging in the December 30 general election, there has been speculation about US plans for it, especially after the European Union this week said it would not send observers, nor comment on the vote or result.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is seeking a third straight term.

Her old rival, Khaleda Zia, who leads the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, is in jail after being convicted on charges she says were politically motivated. Scores of BNP workers have also been detained.

The BNP boycotted the last election, in 2014, as unfair, but has said it will take part this time, though it is seeking international monitors of polls it says it believes will be flawed.

The United States is sending a dozen teams, each of about two observers, who will fan out to most parts of the country, William Moeller, political officer at the US embassy in Dhaka, told Reuters.

“The Bangladesh government has emphasised that it plans to hold a free and fair election,” Moeller said this week.

“We welcome that and are providing funding for election observers who hope to see such an outcome.”

Moeller referred to reports of harassment and intimidation before recent city corporation elections, which he said may have suppressed voter turnout.

“We raised these concerns at the time, so we are hoping we won’t see the same issues in the national elections.”

The US National Democratic Institute said after an assessment in October the polls would be held “amid a high degree of political polarisation, heightened tensions and shrinking political space”.

The Bangkok-based Asian Network for Free Elections will send a team of about 30 short- and long-term observers, Moeller said.

About 15,000 Bangladeshi observers will be funded jointly by the US Agency for International Development, Britain’s Department for International Development and the Swiss government, he said.

The domestic observers would spread out but might not be able to reach every polling station, he said.

PLAYING DOWN WORRIES

Hasina and Khaleda have alternated in power over the last 28 years. Elections in Bangladesh are often violent and marred by ballot-stuffing and voter intimidation.

Hasina’s Awami League has held power since 2009 and dispensed from 2014 with a practice of letting a neutral caretaker government oversee elections, to the anger of the BNP.

The government has brushed off opposition fears of rigging.

“I don’t see any possibility this time, because all the parties are participating, and all of them will have their election agents,” said HT Imam, a political adviser to Hasina.

Bangladesh has seen steady economic growth under Hasina and the development of a vibrant garment sector under-pinning export growth, and accounting for 80 percent of the economy.

But rights groups have criticised increasing curbs on freedom of speech and the media.

Hope to capitalise on dissatisfaction, the BNP has formed an alliance with smaller parties called the National Unity Front and Hasina said this week she expected competitive polls.

The EU delegation in Dhaka said it was not sending observers because of growing demand for them amid tight resources.

India had no plan to send observers unless Bangladesh asked, an official at the Indian High Commission said.

Main opposition alliance Jatiya Oikyafront, in its manifesto, said that relationship with India will be strengthened further on the basis of equality.

Bangladesh will join the projects beneficial for Bangladesh under the One Belt, One Road initiative by China, the manifesto further revealed under the party’s foreign policy plans.  

Issues of Teesta and other common river water sharing and Rohingya issue will be resolved through bilateral discussion at the earliest, the manifesto added.

Steps will be taken to strengthen Saarc and other regional groups, it said.

Mahmudur Rahman Manna, convener of Nagorik Oikya and a leader of the Oikyafront, today unveiled the manifesto at a press briefing at a hotel in Dhaka.

WHAT IS JATIYA OIKYAFRONT?

The Jatiya Oikyafront is an alliance of the BNP, Dr Kamal Hossain-led Jatiya Oikya Prokriya, ASM Abdur Rob’s Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, and Mahmudur Rahman Manna’s Nagorik Oikya.

The Oikyafront was formed on October 13 with the demands of a national election under a neutral government after dissolution of parliament and release of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia from jail.

WHAT ARE OIKYAFRONT’S AGENDAS?

Formed with major political oppositions to ruling alliance, the Oikyafront includes ruling Awami League’s arch opposition BNP.

Currently, they are campaigning with a seven-point charter including freedom for BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and election under a nonpartisan government.

WHAT ARE OIKYAFRONT’S DEMANDS?

The 11-point goal announced by the alliance includes ensuring checks and balances in the state power, decentralisation of administration, freeing MPs from the stringent restrictions imposed on them under article 70 of the constitution, formation of a constitutional commission to make appointments to all constitutional and other important posts and full independence of the judiciary.

The alliance also announced a seven-point demand, including the one for holding the next parliamentary election under a nonpartisan government, dissolution of parliament before the polls and reconstitution of the Election Commission.