Notwithstanding the abject defeat of the Awami League candidates supported by Mahajot partners and CPB-led left front in all the four city corporation elections on June 15, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is sticking to her guns. She is determined to enforce the provisions of unilaterally-passed 15th Amendment of the Constitution, in which she empowered herself to lead the government into the general elections and beyond.

The Opposition 18-party leader, Begum Khaleda Zia, whose nominated Mayoral candidates won all the four big city corporations, and earlier the Mayoral post of the commercial capital and port city of Chittagong, is also equally adamant that her 18-party alliance will go to polls in the general election only under a neutral non-party transitional government. She will not allow general elections to be held under the incumbent Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina retorted on the floor of the parliament on June 16: “The four city corporation polls have been held in a free, fair and impartial manner. There is no need for any further unconstitutional government. Do not try to bring back any unconstitutional government. It will not be good for anyone, because in that case no election will be held.”
In the absence of Begum Khaleda Zia, Barrister Moudud Ahmed, the de facto deputy leader of the opposition, told the parliament that the people in the four city polls had voted in favour of BNP-backed candidates protesting government misrule, including repression of the opposition leaders and workers, false cases, stock market collapse, and Hall-mark scam.


‘Vote of ‘no-confidence’
It was a “vote of no-confidence” in the government, he said: “We participated in the city corporation polls as part of our ongoing demand for the restoration of the caretaker government.
“I urge the government to restore the caretaker government provision in the constitution after the passage of the budget, and resign. This government has lost its moral right to stay in power.”
Thus the political cum constitutional stalemate has only stiffened further. The Guardian newspaper of U.K. reported in its June 18 issue:
“A controversial tribunal investigating alleged war crimes dating back 42 years has polarised an already-partisan political scene. More than 70 died after it delivered its judgments in February.
Coming after the collapse of a factory producing clothes for the West with the loss of 1,130 lives in April, any political crisis would be expected to seriously damage Bangladesh’s booming garment trade, which accounts for 80 per cent of its exports, and would complicate efforts to improve conditions for the 3.5 million employed in the sector”.
Gowher Rizvi, chief representative of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, told the Guardian that preparations for the forthcoming elections, were “completely on track”.
“However, many issues remain unresolved, particularly the demand from the main opposition party, the Bangladesh National party (BNP) for the Awami League to hand over power to a caretaker government.
“A BNP official told the Guardian that party strategists believed Hasina and the Awami League aimed to force the BNP to boycott the poll, allowing them to keep power and be elected again in a “one-party election”.
“The BNP plans to ramp up street protests between the end of school examinations next week and the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, in July. This will give both sides an idea of what kind of muscle the party can deploy. Then the real battle can begin in the autumn. There are three key elements: the role of Bangladesh’s Islamist parties, the ongoing war crimes tribunal and the potential mobilisation of young voters alienated by the partisan politics of recent years. All three are interlinked.
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), the main Islamist party and a long-term ally of the BNP, won only two seats in the 2008 elections. However, their voters can swing the result in dozens of crucial constituencies decided by wafer-thin margins.
“Alongside JI, there is now a new force called Hefezat-e-Islam. Shah Ahmedullah Ashrafi, its deputy emir, told the Guardian that the movement had been founded in 2011 to protect Islam from the corroding influence of socialism and secularism.
“Hefezat-e-Islam organised massive demonstrations last month that ended in police killing an undetermined number of protesters and say they will take to the streets again to enforce their demands.
A particular grievance is alleged government support for bloggers associated with the Shahbag movement whom the Islamists accuse of being atheists who have insulted the Prophet Muhammad.
“It seems there is only one thing on which all are agreed: the struggle, when it comes, will be won or lost on the streets.”
While widespread unrest brews within the country, geopolitical observers are also clearly worried about the disturbed state of the nation.