Polls still in doubt as key issues unresolved

Bikalpo Dhara Bangladesh (BDB) President Prof AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury thinks there is still public confusion about the upcoming parliamentary election as BNP has yet to disclose whether it will contest in the December 18 poll.
Making the electoral administration neutral, and ensuring security of voters, candidates, campaigners, and polling agents are also key issues yet to be resolved, the former BNP leader said in an interview with The Daily Star.
Badruddoza does not think political parties will indulge in blame games and reject election results if defeated, like before.
"Previous elections were held on the basis of flawed voter lists, benefiting both major parties. As the new voter list is quite flawless, and if the voters are allowed to vote properly without any fear of intimidation, there will be little scope for grumbling," he said.
Talking about the military backed caretaker government's 'failures', he said sudden eviction of street vendors affected the lives of about 1 crore people, and improvement in power generation has been quite inadequate.
Negating any possibility of an alliance between BDB and BNP, he said, "BNP has been derailed from its original ideology."
Talking about bringing changes to the nation's political culture, he said any qualitative change will remain a far cry as long as politicians do not learn to hate corruption and terrorism, and start embracing politics of responsibility.
Badruddoza, the country's 15th president, spoke in favour of increasing the power of the president.
"For that, I suggested establishing a separate secretariat for the president, which will be free of the prime minister's interference."