EURO-MPs have called on all political parties in Bangladesh to take part in January\u2019s presidential election \u2013 despite the murder of 30 people in pre-election violence and threats of a boycott of the poll by the BNP opposition.<\/p>\n
The European Parliament this week warned that a planned EU election observation mission would be \u2018pointless\u2019 if an election boycott goes ahead.<\/p>\n
London\u2019s Green MEP Jean Lambert, who chairs the European Parliament\u2019s delegation to South Asia, was one of the sponsors of the debate.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cAll citizens must be given a genuine political choice, and that means all parties should participate in the January presidential election.<\/p>\n
\u201cBangladesh has a lot of problems \u2013 safety standards in the country\u2019s many garment factories are poor, as we saw when more than 1,000 workers died in the Rana Plaza factory collapse earlier this year \u2013 and there are an increasing number of people on \u2018death row\u2019 in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut social and economic stability \u2013 and Bangladesh\u2019s recent impressive progress on disaster management, poverty-reduction, labour rights and women\u2019s empowerment \u2013 depend on political stability.<\/p>\n
“The EU will be sending an election observation mission to the country to help with that process, but such a mission will be pointless if the opposition parties refuse to take part, and we see more \u2018hartals\u2019 \u2013 or general strikes \u2013 which have already seen five senior opposition leaders and some 1,000 BNP followers and members arrested in rural areas this month alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch strikes really affect people\u2019s lives as many rely on daily pay.\u201d<\/p>\n
The resolution came after Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina announced a cross-party \u2018interim cabinet\u2019 last week, which BNP spokesperson Rizvi Ahmed described as a \u2018farce\u2019, arguing that the BNP and its allies would boycott the January election unless Ms Hasina steps down beforehand.<\/p>\n
MEPs also called for Bangladesh to end its use of the death penalty \u2013 and to respect UN calls for better protection for human rights campaigners in the country.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EURO-MPs have called on all political parties in Bangladesh to take part in January\u2019s presidential election \u2013 despite the murder of 30 people in pre-election violence and threats of a boycott of the poll by the BNP opposition. The European Parliament this week warned that a planned EU election observation mission would be \u2018pointless\u2019 if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[107,106,19,982,51],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n