Dhaka (AsiaNews) Bangladesh's main opposition party, the Awami League, has returned to parliament after a boycott that lasted more than a year. Party leader Sheikh Hasina led nearly 60 MPs back into the chamber, where she tabled her party's reform proposals. The government welcomed the move saying it was open to debate the proposals.
The boycott had begun in December 2004 after Shah A.M.S. Kibria, a former Awami League finance minister, and four party activists died in an attack in the northern part of the country. The party claimed the killings were "an organised and coordinated design to eliminate the secular democratic and progressive forces" in Bangladesh.
According to Sheikh Hasina, who is a former prime minister, her electoral reform proposals are vital to make the next general election free and fair. The next election is not due before October this year.
Under existing constitutional provisions, the general election takes place under a caretaker administration led by a former chief justice of the Supreme Court, who appoints the head of the Election Commission.
Sheikh Hasina says under her reforms, the chief of the caretaker administration and the chief election commissioner would be chosen by the country's president after consulting all political parties. She claims that the current system favours electoral manipulation.
The Awami League also wants to ban "religious parties" and the use of religion to get votes as well as political propaganda in places of worship like mosques and churches.
The party blames the government for backing Islamist militants.
Bangladesh has in recent months borne the brunt of a wave of attacks,
In the beginning the government refused to discuss the Awami League proposals but eventually relented as long as they were presented to parliament.
Currently, Bangladesh is governed by a four-party Islamist-allied coalition led by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which has been in office since 2001. Its mandate is to end late this year.
