New parliament term begins in Bangladesh with no opposition

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Bangladesh opened the first session of its new parliament Tuesday with the Awami League as the ruling party and its election ally, Jatiya Party, as the opposition.

The new legislature has no representation from the opposition, which boycotted the general elections earlier this month.

Awami League received a two-thirds majority in the parliament with 223 seats. Jatiya Party won 11 seats.

Independent lawmakers have 62 seats, the highest in the country’s history. However, the independent lawmakers are mainly from the ruling Awami League party and were nominated as “dummy” candidates to ensure a participatory election as opposition parties boycotted the Jan. 7 election.

On the agenda of the first session, parliament reelected Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, who ran unopposed as the new Speaker and also served in the last parliament which expired Monday.

As per the country’s parliamentary practice, President Mohammed Shahabuddin will address the first session and several bills will be introduced.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and allies, the archrival and opposition of the Awami League, staged demonstrations across the country, including in Dhaka and showed black flags to the new parliament, calling it a “dummy.”

Police detained BNP leader Abdul Moin Khan during a rally in Dhaka along with dozens of others across the country, said the BNP.

Opposition parties demanded the cancellation of parliament and new elections under a neutral caretaker government.

The Awami League also held a rally for peace, democracy and development across the country in response to the opposition black flag demonstration, claiming the election as “fair and participatory.”

Since political unrest erupted in late October, at least 29 supporters of the opposition have been killed, as well as a journalist and a policeman.

More than 25,500 BNP supporters have been arrested and over 1,700 others handed jail terms with north of 105,700 sued in police cases, according to BNP figures.