DHAKA (AFP) – Bangladesh’s elections chief quit yesterday after denying political interference in January polls that re-elected autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina, who has since fled the country after a student-led revolution.
Kazi Habibul Awal and the country’s four other election commissioners all tendered their resignation, citing the ex-premier’s ouster as the reason for doing so. They are the latest of several Hasina-appointed public officials to quit their posts since her departure, including the central bank boss and supreme court judges.
“I and the other commissioners intended to resign given the changed scenario of the country,” Awal told reporters.
The five commissioners presided over a January election that guaranteed Hasina a fourth consecutive term and her Awami League party and its allies a near-monopoly on seats.
The vote was marred by low turnout and was boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) after thousands of members were arrested in a pre-emptive crackdown.
