STACKING THE ELECTION COMMISSION

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 000239

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/17/2011
TAGS: PGOV PHUM BG KGOV BGD
SUBJECT: STACKING THE ELECTION COMMISSION

REF: DHAKA 41

Classified By: A/DCM D.C. McCullough, reason para 1.4 d.


1. (SBU) On January 16, President Iajuddin Ahmed, acting on
the advice of PM Zia, appointed two new commissioners to the
Election Commission (EC): BNP loyalists Mahfuzur Rahman,
former High Court Justice, and S.M. Zakaria, the now former
Secretary of the EC. Both men are expected to side with

SIPDIS
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) M.A. Aziz in the debate
over voter registration and other issues that arise over the
course of the election year.


2. (SBU) On January 4, the High Court had dismissed a
petition from the opposition Awami League (AL) challenging
the legality of a new voter roll (reftel). The court wrote
that the EC should take the previous list "as a major basis,"
that the Election Commission should meet immediately to
address the issue, and that EC decisions should be based on
the majority view of its commissioners. Until the
commissioners were appointed and amidst the controversy over
the interpretation and implementation of the court's ruling,
CEC Aziz had been lying low and avoiding his office on the
pretext of illness.


3. (SBU) According to Bangladesh's constitution, there must
be an election commission and a Chief Election Commissioner,
but it does not define the size of the EC. Prior to the new
appointments, the EC consisted of a CEC appointed by the BNP
in 2005 and two commissioners whose appointments during the
last AL government will expire in April 2006.


4. (C) Comment: While both the BNP and AL have claimed
victory on the court ruling on whether the EC should update
or create a new voter's list, there is a more important
political ramification: The AL will cite the background of
the new commissioners, particularly the sycophantic Zakaria,
as further evidence that the BNP is out to fix the election.
CEC Aziz, whose appointment was broadly accepted outside the
opposition because of his reputation as a good judge, has not
demonstrated much leadership or backbone in his first serious
political test as CEC.
CHAMMAS