VZCZCXRO1493
RR RUEHCI
DE RUEHKA #0682/01 1760020
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 240020Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY DHAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6971
INFO RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 2240
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0715
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 9747
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 8511
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 1358

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 000682 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM BG
SUBJECT: POLITICAL PARTIES IRATE WITH CITY POLLS SCHEDULE 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) The Election Commission (EC) announced June 21 that local 
elections would be held in 13 cities August 4, evoking immediate 
opposition from the major political parties.  The Awami League and 
the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) assert that the Government 
seeks to hold local elections to change the political landscape in 
its favor before Parliamentary polls in December.  Indeed, the BNP 
plans to go to court to stop the Caretaker Government from holding 
the municipal vote.  The Government, however, believes holding 
non-partisan local elections before the Parliamentary polls can 
loosen the major parties' grip on local politics and thereby boost 
efforts to decentralize governance and establish grass-roots 
accountability. The Government announced it would relax certain 
provisions of the Emergency Power Rules (EPR) to allow candidates to 
campaign for about three weeks before the election.  Ultimately, the 
parties may participate in the local elections out of political 
expediency. 
 
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MUNICIPAL ELECTION DATE SET 
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¶2. (SBU) The EC announced that local elections in the divisional 
capitals of Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal, and Sylhet, and in the 
smaller cities of Manikganj, Chuadanga, Shariatpur, Naohata, 
Dupchachiya, Sripur, Fulbaria, Golapganj, and Sitakundu will occur 
August 4.  The EC set July 3 as the deadline for filing 
applications, July 6 and 7 for the review of those applications, and 
July 13 as the deadline for withdrawing.  Meanwhile, the Home 
Ministry relaxed certain provisions of the EPR, which had banned 
political gatherings since the Caretaker Government came to power in 
January 2007, to allow election campaigning in the municipalities 
for about three weeks before the vote.  Although municipal elections 
are non-partisan, the political parties unofficially nominate 
candidates and campaign for them. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The incumbent mayors of Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal and 
Sylhet are in prison on charges of graft and extortion.  Khulna 
Mayor Sheikh Tayebur Rahman and Rajshahi Mayor Mizanur Rahman Minu 
have been convicted, while the courts have accepted charge-sheets 
against Sylhet Mayor Badruddin Ahmed Kamran and Barisal Mayor 
Mujibur Rahman Sarwar.  EPR provisions do not allow Rahman and Minu 
to run for office because of their convictions; similarly, a city 
corporation ordinance approved by the Caretaker Government bars the 
two other mayors from running for public office because of the 
charges filed against them. 
 
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POLITICAL PARTIES PROTEST POLLS SCHEDULE 
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¶4. (SBU) Leaders of the BNP and Awami League immediately demanded 
the Caretaker Government cancel the planned municipal elections. 
BNP Secretary General Khandker Delwar Hossain told media that the 
constitution did not allow the Caretaker Government to organize any 
poll other than Parliamentary elections.  (Note: In fact, the 
constitution does not address this issue. It lays out the 
responsibility of the Caretaker Government to hold Parliamentary 
elections. End note.) Awami League Acting President Zillur Rahman 
called the scheduled municipal elections "a farce" but did not 
explicitly say his party would boycott the vote. 
 
--------------------------------- 
PUBLIC COMMENTS VS. PRIVATE VIEWS 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Awami League Acting General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam 
told the Embassy his party's policy-making bodies would decide how 
to proceed by June 26. "There is a possibility that we will ask our 
leaders to participate," Islam said.  Awami League Presidium member 
Tofail Ahmed also told us that his party ultimately would take part 
in local government elections.  BNP Joint Secretary General Nazrul 
Islam Khan said his party had yet to decide on a course of action, 
adding that decisions would be made after getting guidance from 
Khaleda Zia, the party leader and former prime minister who is in 
jail on corruption charges.  Still, he believed the BNP was likely 
to boycott the polls.  BNP activist Barrister Nawshad Jamir said the 
party would go to court within two weeks to challenge the 
constitutionality of the Caretaker Government holding local 
government elections. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Shamsul Huda and 
government advisers have reassured parties that holding local 
government elections would not delay Parliamentary elections.  Major 
political parties, however, said they were worried that the military 
 
DHAKA 00000682  002 OF 002 
 
 
was trying to create its own nationwide political network of 
hand-picked candidates willing to support the regime's reform 
agenda.  Some political parties, including the Jatiya Party headed 
by former military dictator Ershad, however, have announced support 
to the EC schedule for city polls. According to some press accounts, 
the announcement of the polls schedule has aroused some degree of 
interest among local party officials and citizens despite opposition 
from the major political figures. 
 
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COMMENT: PARTY POSITIONS COULD CHANGE 
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¶7. (SBU) If the Awami League believes the candidates it supports can 
run strongly, cold political calculations may ultimately result in 
it moving away from current opposition to the municipal elections. 
The BNP's early threat to resist those elections may simply reflect 
the fact it is in no shape to mount an effective campaign while 
split between Khaleda Zia loyalists and reformists.  The BNP's 
decision ultimately may depend on whether the government reaches 
political deal that would spring the BNP leader and her two ailing 
sons from jail. The Caretaker Government, meanwhile, sees the 
holding of municipal and upazilla elections before the Parliament 
vote as a means to establish accountable leaders at the local level. 
This would prevent the future MP's from ensuring the election of 
their cronies at the local level, thereby diminishing the 
centralization of previous governments that contributed to 
Bangladesh's endemic corruption.