Candidates Thursday applied to run in Bangladesh's local elections due Aug. 4, the first since the army-backed interim government took over in January last year and a major step ahead of a national vote at year-end. The government, headed by former central bank governor Fakhruddin Ahmed, has promised to hold a parliamentary election by December, and the local polls are viewed as a test of the country's ability to run an election efficiently and peacefully. One of 13 locations for the local polls where prospective candidates arrived at the election office was Manikganj. “I left most of my supporters behind because of restrictions on too much election fanfare under emergency rules,” said Morsheda Hossain, at Manikganj, 65 kilometres northwest of Dhaka. She belongs to the Awami League led by paroled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. “I have decided to participate in the election after getting the consent of my party. Since the interim authority is neutral, I hope this election will be free from black money and thugs,” she told Reuters. Though the authorities have relaxed emergency restrictions on campaign rallies in areas where the local elections will be held, political parties want the emergency lifted fully before the parliamentary poll. Candidates for the local elections are not directly drawn from political parties but are normally local elites and popular figures. Bangladesh election laws ban political parties from directly contesting local polls. Local candidates play a key role in the selection of candidates for the national elections.
