POLITICAL PARTIES DROP KEY REFORMERS, INCLUDE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 001243

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2018
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PINS PINR BG
SUBJECT: POLITICAL PARTIES DROP KEY REFORMERS, INCLUDE
GRAFT-TAINTED CANDIDATES FOR PARLIAMENT

DHAKA 00001243 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: CDA a.i. Geeta Pasi. Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d)

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) The two major political parties dropped key reformers
and embraced several graft-tainted politicians in their
slates of Parliamentary candidates. The lists clearly
indicated Bangladesh Nationalist Party Chairwoman Khaleda Zia
and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina remained vindictive
toward reformers who challenged their authoritarian rule and
loyal to allies accused of corruption. While both lists
included fresh faces, at least some were proxies for
politicians ineligible to run because of corruption
convictions. The nominations suggested business as usual for
political parties so far resistant to meaningful change of a
feudal political system notorious for its corruption and
partisan rancor.

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TOUGH TIME FOR REFORMERS ...
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2. (C) The deadline for submitting nominations to run in the
December 29 Parliamentary elections was November 30. Although
the BNP and its main alliance partner, the Islamist party
Jamaat-e-Islami, had yet to agree on seat allocations, they
have until the December 11 deadline to come up with a unified
ticket. BNP Joint Secretary General Nazrul Islam Khan told
EmbOff his party likely would agree to supporting nearly 40
Jamaat candidates. The Awami League agreed to support
candidates from its major alliance partner, the Jatiya Party
led by former military dictator H.M. Ershad, in 50 of
Bangladesh's 300 Parliamentary constituencies.


3. (SBU) Although new election rules required parties to
choose candidates based on local sentiment, BNP Chairperson
Zia and Awami League President Hasina had final say over
every nomination. Within the BNP, the big losers were former
Parliament members who broke with Zia while she was in jail
on corruption charges by demanding she end her autocratic
rule of the party. Among the high profile reformists denied
nominations were former Minister for Education Dr. Osman
Farruk and former Minister of Food and Disaster Management
Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf. Meanwhile, Hasina denied
nominations to several mid-ranking party officials who lost
her trust or allied themselves with her Awami League rivals
while she faced graft charges. A few of those denied
nominations were potential future members of the Presidium,
the Awami League's highest decision-making body.


4. (C) Three prominent BNP reformists received nominations --
Standing Committee Members M. Saifur Rahman and Lt. Gen.
(retired) Mahbubur Rahman as well as a leader of a
short-lived breakway reformist group, Maj. (retired) Hafiz
Uddin Ahmad. Hafiz told us he expected Zia would marginalize
reformist Parliament members after the election. He believed
a few reformists were nominated strictly to ensure victory
for seats perceived to be vulnerable.(Note: A few other BNP
reformists filed nomination papers as independents. The BNP
could yet invite them to run under the party umbrella to
further strengthen its slate. End note.) In the Awami League,
Hasina gave nominations to Presidium members who challenged
her leadership, but only one each and not the multiple
nominations they had received in previous elections. They too
expect to be marginalized within the Awami League after the
elections. One prominent reform-minded Awami League official,
Organizing Secretary Saber Hossain Chowdhury, received a
nomination despite a deep chill over his once warm
relationship with Hasina. He has confided that he did not
expect to play a signficiant role in an Awami League
government and expressed great interest in running for Dhaka
mayor next year.

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...BUT NOT SO TOUGH FOR THE CORRUPT
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5. (SBU) Although both parties have paid lip service to
cleaning up Bangladesh's notoriously corrupt and violent
politics, politicians charged with graft by the 2-year-old
Caretaker Government received nominations anyway. Other
leading politicians convicted of graft were disqualified

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under the State of Emergency enacted in January 2007. In some
cases, however, their wives or other close relatives received
nominations in their stead. One of Bangladesh's leading
newspapers, the respected Daily Jugantor, on November 30
listed six BNP candidates who were wives of popular
politicians convicted of or jailed on graft charges. (Note:
One had since withdrawn. End note.) The brother of a
convicted BNP extortionist is running as well. (Note: Nazrul
Islam Khan claimed relatives of tainted politicians were
nominated only because of a lack of other viable candidates.
End note.) Particularly galling for the Awami League was the
BNPN's nomination of Mohammad Abdus Salam Pintu, who was
charged in the notorious August 21, 2004, grenade attack on a
Hasina rally.


6. (SBU) The Awami League nominated several convicted and
suspected criminals as well. One candidate, for example, was
charged in a 2001 attack on Khaleda Zia's motorcade. Another
was charged with attempted rape in October 2003. A former
Minister of Tourism and Aviation charged with corruption also
received a nomination. The son of a former minister reputed
to be one of the country's most spectacularly corrupt
politicians also made the Awami League list. Still, the Awami
League appeared to have nominated fewer politicians tainted
by criminal charges and convictions than the BNP.

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SILVER LINING HERE AND THERE
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7. (SBU) Several top advisers to Zia said they argued
strongly against supporting graft-tainted politicians, and
indeed some high-profile convicts and graft suspects were not
on the lists of nominees. Others may be dropped later in the
campaign. Some fresh faces also appeared on both slates, with
Bangladesh's leading English-language newspaper, The Daily
Star, estimating the number of newcomers at about 40 for the
Awami League and roughly half that amount for the BNP. The
newspaper applauded the youth of the first-time candidates,
reporting many were under 40 years old. At least some of the
new nominees appeared to be solid choices. The BNP, for
example, nominated the secretary general of Ain O Shalish
Kendro, a highly regarded human-rights non-governmental
organization.

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COMMENT: IT'S DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN
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8. (C) Virtually all political observers interviewed by
EmbOffs in recent days expressed dismay over the two major
parties' candidates, with the BNP in particular coming under
harsh criticism. Instead of representing a break with
Bangladesh's past dysfunctional democracy, the tickets
represent politics as usual that could foreshadow a return to
the petty, corrupt and hyper-partisan governance that led to
widespread popular support for the Caretaker Government's
campaign against graft. "Overall, the people's perception is
very bad," said Dhaka University Political Scientist Ataur
Rahman. A December 1 editorial in The Daily Star said "the
hopes that the nation has entertained about a fresh new start
in politics have apparently taken a beating."


9. (C) Zia and Hasina will make many more choices in coming
weeks that will shed further light on their interest in
reforming Bangladesh's democracy. Among important issues are
whether the party leaders will resort to campaign violence,
whether the winning party will allow the loser to play a
meaningful role in government, and whether the new Parliament
will validate the many Caretaker Government ordinances to
improve governance. The answers to these questions will go a
long way in determining whether this moderate,
Muslim-majority nation of 150 million will have a stable
political climate inhospitable to the Islamic terrorists who
operate throughout South Asia.
PASI