12:00 AM, December 31, 2018 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:53 AM, December 31, 2018
Snapshots of Polls Day
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An empty playground at the Nawabganj Pilot Girls High School polling centre in Dohar upazila. The photo was taken around 10:00am.
Photo: Sheikh Mehedi Morshed, Orchid Chakma, Prabir Das, Amran Hossain, Sk Enamul Haq
A presiding officer brings out the ballot papers for a voter who uses a wheelchair at Dania College centre in the capital's Jatrabari. Many people with disabilities faced difficulties casting votes as most of the centres were not disabled-friendly.
A police team outside a voting centre in Narayanganj.
Shamim Osman, AL's candidate for Narayanganj-4, sips a cup of tea while exchanging greetings with voters outside a polling centre in Dharmaganj area.
Two first-time voters show off their ink covered thumbs after voting at Avoy Bonodini High School in the capital's Rajarbagh.
Urdu-speaking voters make their way to a voting centre at Dhaka Residential Model College in the capital.
A crowd gathers outside the polling centre at Madhubagh Madrasa in the capital after the Awami League men shut the gate and refused to let anyone in.
Voters checking their phones for their voter numbers at Ali Ahmed Majumder School and College in Dhaka's Goran. Many were turned away after failing to find the number.
The Election Commission will announce next week the election schedule for the 50 reserved seats for women in the 11th parliament, EC Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed said today.
“According to the 11th parliamentary election results, 43 seats will be reserved for Awami League while four for the Jatiya Party, one for Jatiya Oikyafront and two for the independent and other candidates,” Helal Uddin Ahmed told reporters at Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital’s Agargaon.
Besides, the upazila parishad elections will be held in phases from the first week of March, he added.
The AL-led grand alliance secured 288 seats -- the AL 257, the JP 22 and others 9 -- in the December 30 election. The BNP-led Jatiya Oikyafront got only eight seats.
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International media widely covered yesterday's national election that saw deadly clashes and accusations of vote rigging.
In a news report, the Associated Press said it received more than 50 calls from people across Bangladesh, who identified themselves as opposition supporters.
They complained of intimidation and threats, and being forced to vote in front of ruling party men inside polling booths, it mentioned.
"Hasina's use of the state machinery to subjugate the opposition virtually ensures her electoral victory," Sasha Riser-Kositsky, a South Asia analyst for the New York-based Eurasia Group, told AP.
Minutes before the polls opened, a BBC correspondent saw filled ballot boxes at a polling centre in Chittagong city. The presiding officer declined to comment.
Only the ruling party's polling agents were present there and several other polling centres in the port city.
BBC's South Asia Regional Editor Anbarasan Ethirajan said if the opposition's claims of widespread vote rigging are proved, then it will likely to raise questions over the credibility of the election process and the legitimacy of the new government, according to a BBC report.
The Guardian in its report headlined “Bangladesh opposition reject 'farcical' election and demand new vote”, mentioned that dozens of candidates pulled out, claiming the ruling Awami League rigged the country's first contested election in a decade.
The Election Commission told Reuters that it was investigating allegations of vote rigging coming from across the country.
“Allegations are coming from across the country and those are under investigation,” SM Asaduzzaman, a spokesman for the EC, told the news agency.
The Economic Times of India reported that the voting in a tense election to choose a new government in Bangladesh ended amid allegations of manipulations by ruling party men.
The Times of India highlighted the introduction of EVMs in six parliamentary constituencies for the first time in a general election, a move which received mixed responses from the voters amid reports of glitches at some booths.
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The United Kingdom has urged the Bangladesh authorities for a full, credible and transparent resolution of all complaints related to the conduct of the December 30 general elections.
“While I welcome the participation of all opposition parties in these elections, I am aware of credible accounts of obstacles, including arrests, that constrained or prevented campaigning by opposition parties, and of irregularities in the conduct of elections on polling day that prevented some people from voting,” said British Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific Mark Field.
He came up with the comments in a press statement yesterday following the announcement of the unofficial results for the 11th Parliamentary Elections in Bangladesh.
“I deplore the acts of intimidation and unlawful violence that have taken place during the campaign period, and am deeply concerned by the incidents that led to so many deaths on polling day. My thoughts are with the families and friends of those who have lost loved ones,” the British minister said in the statement.
Terming free, fair, peaceful, and participatory elections essential to any functioning democracy, Minister Field said, “It is vital for the government and all political parties to now work together to address differences and find a way forward in line with the interests of the people of Bangladesh”.
Mentioning that the UK has a broad and important partnership with Bangladesh, and a significant Bangladeshi diaspora in the UK, Mark Field added, “We will continue to support the people of Bangladesh in their aspirations for a more stable, prosperous, and democratic future”.
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The newly elected parliament members will be sworn in tomorrow and the new cabinet may take oath on Sunday.
A number of ministers informed this to journalists yesterday.
Talking to reporters during a dialogue with Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters Forum, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said the newly elected MPs would be sworn in tomorrow.
The government would formally announce the date, he said at the media centre of his secretariat office.
The gazette on the MPs-elect was published yesterday.
The minister also said the Jatiya Party would be the main opposition in parliament. “The party can also take part in the new government if the prime minister offers them and they accept it.”
Inu said the Awami League-led Grand Alliance is the people's alliance and it has won the national election by a huge margin as it has tried to work for the people.
About the rejection of polls results by the BNP, Inu said the party did so as “part of its conspiracy”.
Seeking anonymity, a senior AL minister told The Daily Star that the new cabinet would be sworn in on Sunday.
However, AL General Secretary Obaidul Qauder yesterday said the process to form the new government was likely to be completed by January 10.
Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, was talking to reporters after placing wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in the city's Dhanmondi.
“After the oath-taking of the new MPs, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will meet the president. The president will then request the prime minister to form the government.”
Asked about the Jatiya Oikyafront's decision not to take oath, Quader said, “The Election Commission will deal with the issue. Everything will be done according to the constitution. If any candidate fails to take oath, the Election Commission will take necessary steps in line with the constitution. A new schedule will be announced for holding a by-election in that constituency.”
The minister said he still believed the Oikyafront, led by the BNP, would not “disobey the people's verdict”.
“Earlier, they had made a mistake by boycotting the 2014 general election. Whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied [with the polls results], it is their party's matter. But I hope those who have been elected MPs this time will not show disrespect to the people's verdict by not taking oath.”
The minister said many democratic countries have started congratulating Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. “If they [BNP] do not participate in the democratic process, it will not remain halted.”
Quader urged AL leaders, activists and supporters not to be revengeful to the opposition men and behave with them carefully.
In the December 30 parliamentary, the AL-led Grand Alliance won 288 seats against the BNP-led Oikyafront's seven.
Three independent candidates also became victorious.
The election in Brahmanbaria-2 was suspended as voting at three polling centres was suspended over violence. Polling in those centres will be held on January 9.
Polls in Gaibanda-3 were rescheduled for January 27 following the death of a candidate.
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The United States has said unlawful or political killings, forced disappearances, life-threatening prison conditions, freedom of speech limitations, negative government pressure on and fear of reprisal by press and media, and impunity for security force abuses were the most significant human rights problems in Bangladesh last year.
US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo formally released the 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices and delivered on-camera remarks yesterday morning at the press briefing room of US Department of State in Washington DC.
There were reports of widespread impunity for security force abuses last year, while the Bangladesh government took few measures to investigate and prosecute cases of abuse and killing by security forces, said the report.
It also considered a number of rights issues, such as torture, arbitrary detentions, corruption, trafficking, overly restrictive NGO laws, workers' rights, use of the worst forms of child labour, and violence against LGBTI persons; unlawful interference into privacy, censorship, site blocking, peaceful assembly and freedom of association; criminal libel; restrictions on freedom of movement, political participation, trade unions.
On the role of the police and security Apparatus, the US report said though civilian authorities maintained effective control over military and other security forces and the government had mechanisms to investigate abuses and corruption by them, those were not regularly employed.
The report said the government neither released statistics on total killings by security personnel nor took comprehensive measures to investigate them.
In regards to the security forces' continued abuses with impunity, it identified lengthy trial procedures, retribution, and police having ties to ruling party men who occupy key positions in law and enforcement agencies.
“Reluctance to bring charges against police also perpetuated a climate of impunity,” it added.
On elections and political participation, the report termed the December parliamentary elections “lop-sided” and said it was considered to be marred by irregularities, including ballot-box stuffing and intimidation of opposition polling agents and voters.
It said the government mobilised law enforcement resources to level civil and criminal charges against opposition party leaders.
The report also highlighted numerous reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings committed by the government or its agents.
It said Human Rights Support Society (HRSS) reported security forces killed more than 400 individuals in crossfire incidents from January through September. Odhikar, another rights body, reported the number to be 415 from January through October.
The anti-narcotics drive in May resulted in an increase of reported extrajudicial killings relative to last year.
Human rights organisations and civil society contended the drive was a government effort to exert increased political control over the populace before the national election.
The report also highlighted claims that the government made limited efforts to prevent or investigate forced disappearances. HRSS stated there were 58 enforced disappearances from January through September. Odhikar said the number was 83 from January to November.
In terms of freedom of expression, it said the government sometimes failed to respect the right.
There were significant limitations on freedom of speech with self-censorship persisting due to harassment and fear of reprisal.
It said both print and online independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of views; however, media outlets that criticised the government experienced negative government pressure.
Civil society said political interference influenced the licensing process, since all television channel licenses granted by the government were for stations supporting the ruling party.
There were also incidents of journalists coming under attack by ruling party loyalists and intelligence men.
Independent journalists alleged intelligence services influenced media outlets in part by withholding financially important government advertising and pressed private companies to withhold their advertising as well.
In September parliament passed the Digital Security Act, claiming it was intended to reduce cybercrimes. Human rights groups, journalists, media outlets, and political opposition parties denounced the DSA as intended to suppress freedom and criminalise free speech.
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