‘Won’t join farcical vote’, Bangladesh opposition leader ahead of election

Al Jazeera  :
A day before nominations end for Bangladesh’s January 7 parliamentary election, the country’s leading opposition party has confirmed that it will not participate in the vote, citing irregularities by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government.

Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Senior Joint Secretary General of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), told Al Jazeera there is “no chance of us participating in the election” until a key demand of the party is met.

Thursday, November 30, is the last date for submission of nominations.

The BNP wants Hasina to step down and make way for a neutral caretaker government to conduct the election in a “free, fair and credible manner”.

While Hasina’s Awami League (AL) party has ruled that out, the government has also launched a crackdown on the BNP, with top functionaries and grassroots-level workers being jailed on a range of new and old cases, involving mainly violence and corruption. Many opposition leaders have gone into hiding.

The situation prompted the global non-profit, Human Rights Watch, to issue a strongly-worded statement on Monday, condemning the spate of arrests, and calling on Bangladesh’s “diplomatic partners” to act.

HRW said “the government’s autocratic crackdown will jeopardise future economic cooperation”.

Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, the BNP’s Senior Joint Secretary General and currently its top leader outside jail (except those in exile), has been living away from home since the last week of October and announcing party programmes on social media from undisclosed locations.

Rizvi is the only top BNP leader who has remained visible over the past three weeks. Even though he did appear in a few street protests, he swiftly changed locations after such events.

An advocate by profession, Rizvi has faced arrest multiple times during Hasina’s rule since 2008 – in 2012, 2013 and 2022 – spending months behind bars.

Since the BNP’s October 28 mega protest, Rizvi has been named in two separate cases of violence registered at the Fatullah police station in Bangladesh’s Narayanganj district.

The associated penal provisions would not allow him a quick bail.
Rizvi spoke to Al Jazeera over the telephone.