DHAKA: Bangladesh’s chief election commissioner, Kazi Habibul Awal, and the country’s four other election commissioners resigned on Thursday, citing the recent political upheaval as the reason for their departure. Their resignation follows the ouster of autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina, who has since fled the country after a student-led revolution.
Awal and the commissioners had overseen the January elections, which secured Hasina a fourth consecutive term and granted her Awami League party and its allies a near-monopoly on parliamentary seats.
The elections were marred by low voter turnout and were boycotted by the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), following a pre-emptive crackdown that led to the arrest of thousands of its members.
Despite criticisms from rights groups and Western governments, who labeled the elections as unfree and unfair, Awal defended the integrity of the vote. He argued that the lack of genuine political opposition made any influence on the election unnecessary. “The main opposition party BNP and like-minded parties didn’t participate,” he said. “As it was a one-party election, there was no necessity to influence the election.”
Hasina’s 15-year tenure was marked by widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of political opponents.
Last month, she fled to India by helicopter and was replaced by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is now leading an interim government. Yunus faces the daunting challenge of implementing democratic reforms following years of repression. However, his caretaker cabinet has yet to announce a timeline for new elections.
Senior bureaucrats who resigned last month had been given ultimatums by student protest leaders, which contributed to their decision to step down.
