Bangladesh's detained former prime minister Sheikh Hasina urged the people on Sunday to foil any conspiracy to delay a national election. Her statement came after the army-backed interim government said it wanted to hold local elections before national polls, which it has promised by December this year. Political parties, including Hasina's Awami League and the rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by detained former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia insist that interim government chief Fakhruddin Ahmed's job is only to transfer power to an elected government, which would then stage local elections. “I urge my countrymen to remain alert against any conspiracy to delay the election,” Hasina told lawyers and reporters during a court appearance on Sunday. Hasina was taken to the special court from a prison for her corruption trial in connection with the purchase of eight Mig-29 fighter planes from Russia, when she was in office between 1996-2001. The court set the next hearing for May 11. If convicted, she will likely be barred from the elections, according to Bangladesh electoral laws. But Hasina said she was confident of contesting the polls, saying that “the unelected (interim) government would not be able to keep me behind the bars for an unlimited period”. “An unelected government is also not good for a country and its people, so the election should be held on time,” Hasina said in the courtroom. Political analysts said they an election might not be possible in December as the Election Commission could face legal challenges over its fresh demarcation of constituencies. The commission said the demarcation was required to make the constituencies equal to one another in size and population. But major political parties saw it as a ploy to “shatter the vote banks” of many potential candidates, including those held in prison for alleged corruption.
