2018 Bangladesh election violence refers to a series of brutal attacks, mostly on opposition party candidates and clashes between ruling and opposition party men centering on the general election on December 30, 2018.
According to UN human rights experts, from December 9 to 12 a total of 47 such incidents of violence were reported, in which eight people were killed and 560 were injured, mostly from the ruling party.
On December 18 the major opposition party of the country, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), claimed that at least 4 party activists have been killed and 152 of 300 candidates have been attacked while campaigning. Moreover, 16 candidates from the alliance of opposition groups are in jail. The number of activists arrested by police after the declaration of the election schedule is around 21,000 according to the leaders of the Jatiya Oikya Front, the largest opposition alliance in the country.
The victims of violence include former ministers, parliamentarians, veteran freedom fighters and senior leaders from the opposition alliance. At least 70 candidates from the opposition alliance Jatiya Oikya Front claimed that they could not participate in the campaign for fear of attacks against them.
Renowned human rights watchdog Human Rights Watch, in its bulletin titled "Bangladesh: Crackdown as Elections Loom," claimed that "Bangladesh security forces have been arresting and intimidating opposition figures and threatening freedom of expression in advance of national elections."
On January 3, 2019, Human Rights Watch called for an investigation into attacks on members of the opposition parties before and during Bangladesh's elections.
Background
After the 1994-96 protest for neutral election time governments, Bangladesh amended the constitution to include a caretaker government system to oversee elections. Successive caretaker governments conducted free, fair and credible national elections in 1996, 2001 and 2008.
In 2011, the Awami League led government in Bangladesh scrapped the provision for election time caretaker governments following a much debated Supreme Court ruling which declared the caretaker government system illegal, creating a political crisis in the country.
The 2014 general election was then held under the supervision of the Awami League government and was boycotted by 30 of 42 registered political parties in the country, resulting in further deterioration of the political situation.
In 2018, Bangladesh's election commission announced the schedule of another general election, which will again be held with the Awami League in power and its chief Sheikh Hasina as the Prime Minister. The election was set to take place on December 30, 2018.
Election schedule
Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda initially announced December 23, 2018 as the date of the general election. According to the schedule, the last date for filing candidate nomination papers was November 19, and the last date for withdrawal of candidates was November 29.
After public hue and cry, the commission rescheduled the election date to December 30, 2018, with December 9 as the last date for withdrawal of candidates on November 12.
Violence
Police harassment
BNP's candidate for the Dhaka-1 constituency Khondokar Abu Ashfaq was detained on December 11, 2018, while campaigning. The officer in charge of Dohar police, Md Sazzad, said he was detained "on security grounds." He was later freed.
As of December 21, Bangladesh police have detained 16 opposition party candidates who will be running for the election. In addition, Jatiya Oikya Front leaders have claimed that 21,000 activists of the alliance have been detained by police after the announcement of the election.
The list of candidates jailed by police before the election includes:
Nazma Rahman, the wife of 20 Party Alliance candidate from Jhenaidaha-3 Motiar Rahman, was accused in a vandalism case on December 11, after police failed to nab her husband.
In Dhaka-16, BNP candidate Ahsanullah's wife Rina Hasan was obstructed by Awami League activists while campaigning with other women party members. After returning home local police arrested her, rather than taking any action against the Awami League activists.
On December 15, the Supreme Court Bar Association's Secretary General Mahbub Uddin Khokon, also the BNP candidate from Noakhali-1, alleged that he was shot by the local police while campaigning. Police Superintendent Ilias Sharif defended the attack, saying it was an attempt to bring the situation under control.