AL completing tenure because people supported the party in 2014 elections: Hasina

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the Awami League government is going to complete its five-year tenure because the people supported it in the 10th parliamentary elections.

In reaction to criticism of the 2014 elections marred by the boycott of the BNP and its allies, she told an Awami League meeting held at the Ganabhaban on Saturday: “The Jan 5 elections were not held without the voters. The turnout was over 40 percent.”

Besides the BNP, more than half of the registered political parties in the country, including the BNP’s partners in the 20-party alliance and the Communist Party of Bangladesh, boycotted the Jan 5, 2014, elections.

The Awami League formed the government for the second consecutive term after winning the elections.

From the Awami League and its allies, 154 MPs were elected uncontested. The turnout was low with fear of violence amid the boycott by the BNP.

Hasina recalled the violence unleashed by the BNP-led alliance to stop the elections.

“Khaleda Zia burnt people alive, torched 582 schools, killed presiding officers, assistant presiding officers. Even after these, the people stood against them,” the prime minister said.

The BNP alleges democracy was ‘murdered’ through the 2014 elections. It demands that elections be held with a non-partisan government in power and boycotted the 2014 elections to press the demand.

It is saying that fair elections are ‘impossible’ with Awami League chief Hasina as the prime minister.

Responding to the BNP criticism of the 2014 elections, Hasina said, “We have been able to complete four years of our tenure because the people voted us in that election.”

She added that the BNP could not remain in power after holding a one-party election in 1996 and HM Ershad’s Jatiya Party faced the same fate in the 1988 elections.

Khaleda had to resign only one and a half months after the Feb 15 election while Ershad could be in power for two years after the 1988 election,” Hasina said.

Amid boycott of the Awami League and most other parties, the BNP formed the government after winning the Feb 15, 1996, election.

The government had to quit after serving for a brief period following the movement.

Ershad’s Jatiya Party won the Mar 3, 1988, election boycotted by the Awami League, BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, CPB, Workers Party and most other parties.

The military dictator was toppled in the face of an anti-autocracy movement in 1990.

Hasina said both Khaleda and Ershad had to resign because they had ‘rigged’ vote.

“But our goal (in 2014 elections) was to preserve democracy,” she said.

She slated the critics of the 2014 elections, saying they consider liberating Bangladesh from Pakistan as a crime and hate the Awami League for leading the nation in the struggle for independence.

She reiterated her call to vote for the Awami League in the next parliamentary election to maintain continuity of the development work it has started.

“The welfare of the people will not happen if you bring Al-Badr, war criminals to power,” she said.