AMBASSADOR BRIEFS BNP CHAIRPERSON KHALEDA ZIA ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DHAKA 001356 SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/PB AND SCA/FO E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/29/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR PTER KDEM EAID BG SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR BRIEFS BNP CHAIRPERSON KHALEDA ZIA ON USG EFFORTS TO PROMOTE FREE, FAIR AND CREDIBLE ELECTIONS REF: DHAKA 1349 Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) Summary ======= ¶1. (C) On the eve of Bangladesh's December 29 parliamentary election, the Ambassador met with Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to highlight the USG's efforts to promote free, fair and credible polls leading to a return of democracy in the world's seventh most populous country. Tired from her campaigning, Zia allowed her advisers to outline the party's remaining concerns about the electoral playing field. From their comments it appears the BNP is left with only minor complaints as it faces what its leaders know will be an uphill struggle to return to power. While the meeting broke no new ground, it underscored the USG's commitment to the democratic process. It also served to remind the BNP that the USG would be able to come to an objective and well-informed judgment on the credibility of the elections. Begum Zia Prepares for Peoples' Verdict ======================================= ¶2. (C) The Ambassador met with Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia late December 28, the eve of Bangladesh's parliamentary elections. BNP Advisers former Ambassador to the U.S. Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, Major General (retired) Fazle Elahi Akbar, journalist Shafik Rehman and Pol/Econ Counselor (notetaker) also participated in the meeting. This was the first opportunity for the Ambassador and other members of the diplomatic corps to meet with Zia since the beginning of the Parliamentary Election campaign December 12. She had also met with all the major election observer delegations during the course of the day. With genuine admiration for her stamina, Zia's Advisers told the Ambassador that during the campaign the Party Chairperson had logged over 7,000 km of road travel, visiting 50 or Bangladesh's 64 districts, holding over 200 meetings and having direct contact with over 15,000,000 voters. Looking Forward =============== ¶3. (C) The Ambassador thanked Zia for taking time to meet with him. The Ambassador briefed Zia on his recent consultations in Washington, noting he had spoken with senior USG officials and representatives of the President-elect's transition team about the importance of Bangladesh's democratic process. The Ambassador noted that Embassy staff had been traveling throughout Bangladesh during the election campaign and said thus far we assessed election conditions to be favorable. The Ambassador said we assessed conditions had been set for widespread participation in elections, and said that villagers seemed particularly pleased with the security situation. The Ambassador complimented Zia on the BNP manifesto and noted the similarities between it and the Awami League's policy document. While there were differences on proposed solutions, the USG was pleased to see both parties agreed on the problems facing Bangladesh. For example, the Ambassador noted both had stressed the need for the ruling and opposition parties to work together after elections. Future of Democracy =================== ¶4. (C) Similarly, the Ambassador emphasized the USG's desire to work with both parties--the next government and opposition. He acknowledged Bangladesh's strategic importance for the United States and emphasized our interest in seeing democracy restored. Even as we looked forward to free and fair elections, the USG also wanted to see democracy take firmer root in Bangladesh. Shafik Rehman, who played a major role in drafting the BNP election manifesto, recalled the Ambassador's first public speech in Bangladesh. Rehman agreed on the importance of the &three D's8 of our relationship*democracy, development, and denial of space to terrorists. Rehman remarked that others, including former President Ershad and noted lawyer Dr. Kamal Hossain, had tried to establish broad-based political parties but had failed. Only Begum Zia and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina had succeeded in developing functioning, nation-wide parties. Rehman credited Zia for reintroducing a parliamentary system after taking power in 1991. He stressed that while Zia could have used her 2/3 majority in 2001 to DHAKA 00001356 002 OF 003 amend the constitution and change the system she had not done so. ¶5. (C) For his part, Chowdhury reiterated the BNP's commitment to seeing free, fair, credible and participatory elections. The BNP had realized that the State of Emergency was not compatible with free and fair elections. For this reason, on December 10 the BNP had given the Caretaker Government an ultimatum to announce the date for lifting the State of Emergency. The BNP had not wanted to boycott the election, but it had been prepared to do so. As a result of the BNP's principled stand, the CTG had agreed to lift the Emergency on December 17. While this had not given the BNP enough time to campaign, it was clear that free elections would never have been possible under the Emergency. Just as important, the people would not have accepted elections under those conditions. Importance of Observer Missions =============================== ¶6. (C) The Ambassador thanked Zia for agreeing to meet with representatives from the National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute. These groups were deploying their observer teams, and the Embassy was also fielding diplomatic observer teams. This would allow us to reach an objective conclusion about the fairness of elections. The Ambassador reiterated his belief that the pre-election situation was encouraging. BNP Remaining Complaints ======================== ¶7. (C) Akbar said this had been a hard fought election and predicted it would be a close race. In these circumstances, 20 ) 30 seats could make a big difference. Akbar questioned the Election Commission's December 28 decision not to deploy judicial magistrates, who were empowered to dispense justice on the spot in the event of election violations. Akbar said the BNP feared the lack of this check would allow the bureaucracy to fix the elections. Akbar said polling officials could conspire to alter the vote counts in a small number of centers and swing elections where the difference would only be 2 ) 3,000 voters. For example, the election officials could forge the signatures of polling agents on results sheets, and without the judicial magistrates there would be no one to question their actions. Akbar said the Election Commission's argument that there were not sufficient resources to deploy the magistrates did not hold water. (Earlier, BNP Joint Secretary General Nazrul Islam Khan had shared with Pol/Econ Counselor a copy of the Four Party Alliance's protest to the Election commission on this issue.) Chowdhury maintained that the presence of these judicial magistrates, able to move between centers, was essential to prevent fraud. ¶8. (C) The Ambassador told Zia that IRI would conduct exit polls, which should provide a check on the results reported by polling officials. The BNP advisers said they were skeptical of the reliability of exit polls in Bangladesh. Chowdhury claimed voters would fear retribution and be reluctant to accurately report to pollsters how they had voted. The Ambassador acknowledged that exit polls were a novelty in Bangladesh, but noted IRI had tested such polls during the August municipal elections with good results. ¶9. (C) Akbar also shared BNP concerns about the activities of partisan police officers, both active duty and retired, who reportedly were trying to stop voters in different areas from going to the polls on election day. Akbar said honest members of the police had reported on the malicious activities of their partisan superiors. The Ambassador encouraged the BNP to lodge these complaints with the Election Commission. Akbar gave the Ambassador a copy of a list of alleged partisan police officials. The Ambassador agreed that these allegations should be investigated. Counter Terrorism Cooperation ============================= ¶10. (C) The Ambassador expressed concern about the reports of the possible terrorist attempt against Begum Zia's recent rally in Comilla. The Ambassador said this served as a reminder of the importance of fighting terrorism. As he had done with Sheikh Hasina, the Ambassador promised Zia if she won the USG would provide her a detailed briefing on our counter terrorist cooperation and plans for the future. The DHAKA 00001356 003 OF 003 Ambassador said the USG looked forward to working with the BNP in power or in opposition, and that post-Mumbai counter terrorism cooperation had taken on increased importance. The BNP Advisers agreed, and Rehman noted that Zia had discussed the importance of fighting terrorism during her December 27 speech to the nation. Comment ======= ¶11. (C) Zia told the Ambassador she was exhausted from the campaign, and it showed. She appeared to be fighting a cold and let her advisers do most of the talking. Zia remained engaged throughout the meeting, however, and acknowledged the Ambassador's points. Zia expressed appreciation to the Ambassador for coming to see her and was pleasant throughout the meeting. Notably, there was no vitriol directed against the CTG or the Awami League. Also, Zia did not raise the allegations of corruption against her son ARAFAT "Koko" Rahman, who has been implicated in the Siemens corruption scandal. While the meeting did not break any new ground, it was important for us to counter perceptions that the USG favored the Awami League. (Note: The fact that, before this meeting, the Ambassador had met one more time with Sheikh Hasina than with Khaleda Zia fueled this perception). The meeting also provided an opportunity to suggest to the BNP that the USG would have plenty of information on which to judge the credibility of the December 29 election. With this in mind, it was also positive that Zia had agreed to meet with international observer delegations. MORIARTY