By IANS
Dhaka : Bangladesh will hold general elections towards the end of 2008 in line with a roadmap announced by the Election Commission Sunday.
Chief Election Commissioner A.T.M. Shamsul Huda announced “a string of timetables in the run-up to the stalled polls”, Star Online reported.
According to the roadmap, Huda said the poll panel would complete registering voters by mid-October next year.
The Election Commission will take “initiative to discuss electoral reforms with political parties between September and November this year”, he said.
The roadmap follows international concerns since the elections were called off in January this year amid political turmoil.
The roadmap is unlikely to go well with the political parties that have been clamouring for early elections.
Bangladesh has an interim or caretaker government holding office under the constitutional provisions but with no popular mandate. It is widely perceived as being “military-guided” at home and abroad.
It has imposed a blanket ban on political activity under a national emergency promulgated to stall the political chaos that prevailed after the government of prime minister Khaleda Zia quit office last year.
The government has also initiated “political reforms”, asking political parties to be “transparent and democratic”.