The build up to the 10th parliamentary elections in Bangladesh on 5 January was tarnished by serious levels of violence, intimidation, enforced general strikes, and transport blockades, reports Foreign & Commonwealth Office of United Kingdom.

Published on Friday (13 March), titled ‘Case study: Bangladesh – political violence’, the report says ‘the 18-Party Alliance, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), objected to the constitutionally valid electoral arrangements, and did not contest the election due to their concerns that the election would not be free and fair. Half of parliamentary seats were uncontested, and the Awami League won a second successive term. Election day was marked by violence: 21 deaths were reported, and over 100 school-based polling centres burnt down.’

The report deplored acts of intimidation and unlawful violence from all parties, and urged all of Bangladesh’s political parties to work together to address political accountability.

‘We repeatedly condemned all forms of violence and encouraged political parties to work together.

‘We also raised our concerns with both the government and opposition parties privately’, says the report.

Baroness Warsi, the then FCO Minister for Human Rights, while her visit in Bangladesh on 6 January this year, raised concerns with visiting Bangladeshi ministers, as did former Minister of State for International Development, Alan Duncan, and former Parliamentary Under-Secretary for State for International Development, Lynne Featherstone, during visits to Bangladesh.

‘All three ministers urged Bangladesh’s political parties to work together to strengthen democratic accountability, and to build wider confidence in future elections,’ the report further states.

The report says, in 2014, ‘the country experienced a period of relative calm’ as ‘after the elections, the BNP committed to peaceful protest, although political tension at the end of the year led to the re-emergence of widespread political violence’.

‘However, there has been no political dialogue between the country’s two largest parties: the BNP and Awami League’, report continues. The report says various ‘NGOs report that impunity of all Bangladesh’s law enforcement agencies continues to be a serious problem. NGOs condemned a post-election spike in numbers of reported extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances allegedly carried out by law enforcers. Allegations of involvement by the Rapid Action Battalion in the death of seven men in Narayanganj drew domestic and international criticism. Baroness Warsi called for prompt, transparent and impartial investigations when she met the Bangladeshi High Commissioner in May. As yet, none of the three investigations established to find those guilty have delivered findings, and no charges have been brought’.

The report says the government has proposed revisions to the Foreign Donations Act (pending parliamentary approval) and a new Broadcast Policy, while some using digital media to criticise the government have been detained under the Information Communications Technology Act.

‘This has generated concerns about civil society space, media freedoms, and government power to suppress criticism or dissent. The government has also restored parliament’s authority to impeach judges, which, depending on how it is implemented, could compromise the independence of the judiciary’.

The report further says UK Prime Minister David Cameron while met Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 22 July, noted his disappointment over the conduct of the election.

‘Both agreed on the importance of an open society and political systems in which democratic political participation and media freedoms are respected’.