By Xinhua,
Dhaka : Bangladesh’s long-awaited 9th parliamentary elections will be held on Monday after two years of delay. Following are some facts about the upcoming national polls.
Bangladesh has a parliamentary system of government headed by prime minister. The parliament comprises 345 members, of which 300 members will be chosen by the public. The other 45 seats are reserved for females, who will be chosen by the 300 parliament members.
The political party that wins the most seats in the parliamentary elections forms the new government, and the party leader usually becomes prime minister.
According to Bangladesh’s Election Commission, a total of 1,552 candidates of 39 registered political parties as well as independent candidates, including 50 females, are contesting for the 300 parliament seats.
The country’s two major parties, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia and the Awami League led by another former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, again are the key players in the elections. The two parties were in power alternatively from 1991 to 2006.
More than 81 million eligible voters, out of the total population of 147 million, are expected to join the national polls.
On Monday, polls to elect 299 parliament members out of 300 will be held across the country, while vote for one seat will be held on Jan. 12 next year as one candidate died in a fire earlier this month.
To ensure peaceful voting, over 600,000 security personnel including nearly 50,000 army troops have been deployed across the country.
A total of 35,216 polling centers will be set up across the country with 177,107 polling booths for voting. At each polling center, some 14 to 18 law-enforcers will be deployed to maintain security.
Besides, some 200,000 local poll observers and 559 foreign ones will monitor the polls, the Election Commission said.
Bangladesh’s 9th parliamentary elections, originally scheduled on Jan. 22, 2007, was postponed following violent disputes between major parties over election issues, which also led to an imposition of 23-month-long state of emergency.