Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07DHAKA93
2007-01-18 09:41:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Dhaka
Cable title:  

AWAMI LEAGUE HOPES FOR ELECTION IN EARLY APRIL

Tags:  PREL KDEM PGOV BG 
pdf how-to read a cable
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P 180941Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY DHAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3010
INFO RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 1453
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 9574
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 8887
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 7733
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1604
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 0643
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0282
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL CALCUTTA
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 000093 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/18/2017
TAGS: PREL KDEM PGOV BG
SUBJECT: AWAMI LEAGUE HOPES FOR ELECTION IN EARLY APRIL

Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Geeta Pasi; Reason 1.4(d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 000093

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/18/2017
TAGS: PREL KDEM PGOV BG
SUBJECT: AWAMI LEAGUE HOPES FOR ELECTION IN EARLY APRIL

Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Geeta Pasi; Reason 1.4(d)


1. (C) On January 18, Major General (R) Tarique Ahmed
Siddique, head of security for Awami League president Sheikh
Hasina, presented to poloff a one-page Caretaker Government
"work schedule" that culminates in the holding of
parliamentary elections on April 3. He said he generated the
document after army contacts opposed to prolonged military
involvement in government showed him a three-page strategy
paper outlining the army's goals over the course of a
long-term government of national unity. The paper, he said,
discussed an anti-corruption campaign and the need for photo
voter ID cards in the context of justifying a prolonged
Caretaker Government tenure.


2. (C) Siddique's schedule omits the provision of photo voter
ID cards, which he argues in a note are unnecessary and
impractical, and he calls only for an updated, not a new,
voter list. Hasina, he claimed, has endorsed the schedule,
but that for now only a handful of senior party leaders are
aware of this development.


3. (C) The specifics of the "Proposed Work Schedule for New
Care-Taker Government" are:

--Reconstitution of the Election Commission by January 20
--Voter List updating begins by January 25
--Completion of the Voter List and display for any
corrections by March 1
--Announcement of Election Schedule by March 2
--Completion of the corrected final voter list by March 15
--Election Day on April 3.


4. (C) Comment: Awami League contacts are consistently
suggesting to us a late March/early April timeframe for
elections, which implicitly acknowledges that significant
reforms, including a photo voter ID system, are not essential
for a free and fair election. The existence of an army
strategy paper proposing a long-term interim government is
consistent with mounting evidence that the military, the
clear power behind the throne, envisages a much broader
agenda and timeframe than just preparing the country for
elections as soon as possible.
BUTENIS