Awami League still busy seeking electoral companions

Ruling Awami League is all set for the next national parliamentary election. But the strategy of bringing as many parties as possible to the election in BNP’s absence that was adopted by the ruling party hasn’t yet produced the desired outcome.

The expectations Awami League had that many leaders would leave BNP and form new parties, join other parties or announce participation in the election as independent candidates, is still largely limited within discussions.

Awami League is determined to hold the next national election in time, following the constitution. But, the ruling party still cannot be totally certain about who will be Awami League’s partners and competitors in the election this time. Whereas, Awami League had planned to bring maximum number of parties to the election and to finalise the list before the schedule is announced.

Several policy-making level sources of the party say that the ruling party had been designing their strategy considering the first week of November as the possible time for the election schedule to be announced.

Since the schedule hasn’t been announced yet, attempts are on to bring more parties and BNP to the election. According to some, the announcement of the schedule is being tried to delay to get an idea about the parties joining the election.

Awami League had already made an assumption long before that BNP and its allies would boycott the next election. Sources of the party say that Awami League had contacted many Islamist parties outside of the 14-party alliance and their allies as an alternative way to increase participation in the election.

Efforts are also being made to get BNP leaders to leave their party and join the polls. The plan was to create an election vibe with some major announcement even before the schedule.

Till now, there hasn’t been any such major announcement except for two former BNP leaders, Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury and Taimur Alam Khandaker joining the Trinamool BNP.

A reliable source from Awami League says that those whom the Awami League wants to join the election are making various calculations. They want to take more time. Some want power, ministerial or parliament member posts.

Some parties or individuals on the other hand are lobbying to join the election. They just want money. In other words, it’s taking time for the demands and offers to be aligned.

One of the ministers of the government as well as a policy maker of the Awami League on condition of anonymity told Prothom Alo that the next one week is highly crucial. Especially, it would clarify which BNP leaders are leaving the party. And the election vibe will spread throughout the country after that.

Awami League presidium member Qamrul Islam told Prothom Alo that Awami League would not "score goals in an empty field". Let the schedule be announced. Many of the BNP leaders will be joining the election as independent candidates.

The Jatiya Party will be contending for all 300 seats. Plus, Trinamool BNP has also announced to participate in the election from all constitutional seats. Still there’s time, wait and see, he said.

Information minister and AL’s joint general secretary Hasan Mahmud dropped a political bombshell last week saying that the former minister and BNP vice chairman major (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed is leaving the party and going to form a new political party.

Hafizuddin rejected Hasan Mahmud’s claim a day later in a press briefing. Hafizuddin said he is still with the BNP and the minister’s remark is not true.

A high level source of AL said Hafizuddin recently held a meeting with government highups about participating in the polls and subsequent actions. The meeting was not held at Hafizuddin’s volition rather a third party facilitated it. The issue of Hafizuddin’s participation in the polls was discussed during the meeting. The BNP leader, however, denied taking part in any such meeting.

An AL leader from policymaking level told Prothom Alo that they assumed a rift would be visible in BNP in the face of the arrest drive against BNP leaders following its 28 October rally. AL also thought some parties who are waging simultaneous movement with BNP might also change sides.

But such expectations of the ruling party are not getting much traction yet.
The ruling party leader thinks BNP leaders' qualms to desert the party are rooted in the US visa policy and failure to do anything meaningful despite breaking the party during the 1/11 government.

The ruling party wants participation of Islami Andolon Bangladesh (IAB) led by Chormonai pir in the election shunned by BNP. The ruling party highups maneuvered to bring forward the party as an alternative to Jamaat-e-Islami.

But IAB intensified its anti-government stance after the party’s senior nayeb-e-amir Syed Mohammad Faizul Karim, who was party’s mayoral candidate in Barisal city corporation election, came under attack on the day of election.

The party has warned against announcement of polls schedule without a consensus being reached. Now the AL leaders think IAB’s such stance is indicative of its unwillingness to participate in the polls.

AL’s joint general secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim told Prothom Alo that the election would be fair. Many parties and persons would take part in the polls.

AL is sure about Jatiya Party’s (JaPa) participation in the election boycotted by BNP. JaPa secretary general Mujibul Haque told Prothom Alo that this perception might be rooted in the party’s participation with AL in several previous elections. But the situation is different this year.

JaPa has preparation for the election but it is yet to finalise the decision to join the next polls.  The decision would be taken after observing the situation that evolves in the next several days.

But some AL leaders think JaPa is not making any announcement yet in order to drive a harder bargain.

AL does not want to show any compromise or closeness to Jamaat. But the ruling party would like to see Jamaat candidates take part in the polls independently.

An AL leader told Prothom Alo that they don’t believe Jamaat but also don’t want to push it too far. That’s why an effort is on to bring the party to the polls.

The Election Commission (EC) spoke of announcing polls schedule in the first week of November. But prime minister Sheikh Hasina is inaugurating some big projects now. The prime minister’s project inauguration phase is likely to end on 14 November. It was learnt that the EC has taken preparation to announce the schedule by 16 November.

There is a discussion that EC is taking some time to announce the polls schedule due to the project inaugurations. But several AL leaders said who contests the ruling party’s candidates in the next election is important in the current political context. The party gets some more time to look for participants as the schedule is not yet announced.

* This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Galib Ashraf and Nourin Ahmed Monisha