Bangladesh elections are delayed by a week Star cricketer Mashrafe plans to contest polls

30th December is the new date set for the polls

dhaka — Bangladesh authorities on Monday announced they were delaying next month’s general election by a week following an appeal from the country’s opposition alliance, an official said.

“The vote will now be held on December 30,” Election Commission spokesman SM Asaduzzaman said.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) had protested the December 23 election date announced last week, saying more time was needed to prepare for the poll.

The BNP — whose leader Khaleda Zia is behind bars — had asked for an extra month to campaign against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The prime minister, who is running for a third consecutive term in office, has been accused of cracking down on her opponents ahead of the poll, with thousands of BNP activists detained in recent months. A party spokesman warned the opposition could reconsider its decision to contest the election if an even playing field were not assured.

“Our activists are still being arrested,” BNP spokesman Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said in Dhaka.

“We have said we would definitely rethink our decision if this doesn’t stop and an environment is not created for a vote.”

The BNP boycotted the 2014 election over fears it would be rigged.

Veteran opposition leader Khaleda Zia remains behind bars serving a decade-long jail term for corruption charges her supporters say were politically motivated.

Zia, 73, has virtually no time to appeal her sentence and will almost certainly be banned from contesting the election against her arch-rival Hasina.

The opposition also says some 5,000 of its activists have been detained in a recent crackdown, depriving it of a grassroots presence vital to fight any polls. — dhaka — Bangladesh’s one-day international captain Mashrafe Mortaza will stand in next month’s election, the ruling party announced on Monday, after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina endorsed the superstar’s foray into politics.

A photograph of 35-year-old Mashrafe, who enjoys rockstar status in cricket-mad Bangladesh, alongside Hasina ran on the front pages of many newspapers in the South Asian nation of 160 million. A spokesman for Hasina’s Awami League said Mashrafe had been given the

“green light” from the prime minister, who is seeking a third consecutive term in office on December 30.

“He plans to contest from Narail,” said spokesman Mahbubul Alam Hanif, referring to Mashrafe’s hometown district.

Mashrafe has not commented publicly on his running for the Awami League. —