Word: bangladesh
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...This political mayhem has its roots in the compromises sometimes required in Asia's more fragile democracies. After Bangladesh returned to civilian leadership in 1991 following 15 years of mostly military rule, the two main political parties-the secular, nationalist Awami League led by Sheikh Hasina and the more Islamic-leaning and pro-business Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by outgoing Prime Minister Khaleda Zia-agreed that the incumbent party would step down a couple of months before every election. A neutral caretaker government would briefly run the country and the election commission until a new government was elected...
...Awami League is not blameless either. Western diplomats in Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital, say the party's stubborn refusal to compromise on any of its demands, its calls to take the fight to the streets and its decision earlier this month to boycott the election-"we'll resist the one-sided polls at any cost," Hasina told a rally-all made confrontation inevitable. "It's hard to see that there's a good-faith effort on either side," said one Western diplomat before Iajuddin called off the election...
...called off the ballot, Zia described the Awami League and its allies as "conspirators" plotting to undermine the electoral process. It doesn't help that there's a seething rivalry between the two main leaders-Zia, 61, the widow of assassinated President Ziaur Rahman, and Hasina, 59, daughter of Bangladesh's first President, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was also murdered. Hasina believes Zia's husband knew of the plot to kill her father. Six years ago, on a visit to Dhaka, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter tried to get the two to shake hands, but neither could bring herself even...
...differences between the two parties go much deeper than the personal feuds of their leaders. The Awami League came of age during the liberation struggle in the early 1970s when Bangladesh broke away from Pakistan. The party paints itself as the protector of those early secular, nationalist ideals, and a bulwark against radical Islam. The BNP, which is closer to Pakistan and embraces political Islam, argues that it is more religious and tougher on crime. During its recent stint in power the BNP counted on the support of fundamentalist Islamic parties such as Jamaat-e-Islami, sparking Western concerns that...
...more venal struggle-over who gets to control the country's coffers for the next few years. "[A lot of politicians] cast themselves in these mantles of competing nationalisms, but the bottom line is they're a bunch of crooks," says the Western diplomat. Reinforcing that impression, Bangladesh has had the unhappy distinction over the past five years of being ranked worst or near worst on Berlin-based Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. (As for the years the country was not the most corrupt, Bangladeshis joke that officials must have bribed their way out of the bottom spot.) Muzaffer...