US embassy cable - 05DHAKA2401

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 002401 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/24/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, BG, BGD Elections 
SUBJECT: OPPOSITION REJECTS NEW CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSIONER 
 
Classified By: P/E  Counselor D.C. McCullough, Reason: 1.4 b 
 
1. (U) On May 23, the BNP government appointed Justice 
M.A.Aziz as Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to replace M.A. 
Syed whose tenure ended May 22.  Aziz is the ninth Chief 
Election Commissioner since independence and a member of the 
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.  According to media 
reports, he does not have to give up his seat on the Supreme 
Court while CEC.  Aziz previously served in 2004 as chairman 
of the leadership search committee for the Anti-Corruption 
Commission. 
 
2.  (SBU) The Awami League (AL) and other opposition parties 
rejected the appointment, objecting that they were not 
consulted prior to the appointment.  Saber Chowdhury, 
Political Secretary to Shiekh Hasina, complained to us that 
the AL, when it was in power, twice invited the then 
opposition BNP for consultations on the selection of the CEC 
but were rebuffed.  Ahktar Ahktaruzzaman, Organizing 
Secretary for the AL, when asked what made Justice Azziz 
 
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unfit for the CEC, stated that Azziz "is a BNP man" who had 
hosted an event where a BNP minister was invited.  He said 
that the AL will "not accept" him and promised there would be 
unspecified action emphasizing their rejection "after some 
time." 
 
3. (U) Although there are presently two other election 
commissioners in the election commission, under the 13th 
Amendment to the Bangladeshi Constitution, the Chief Election 
Commissioner can be the sole responsible agent of government 
for the execution of elections.  The Constitution does not 
specify that there be other election commissioners or specify 
the number of commissioners. 
 
4. (SBU) Critics point out that the CEC and the executive 
body of the CEC, the Election Commission Secretariat, need to 
be independent of political influence, and that under Article 
118 (4) of the Bangladeshi Constitution the CEC has sole 
authority in the conduct of the elections even while it is 
dependent on other ministries for much of the organizational 
expertise and manpower.  The AL charges that the Prime 
Minister's Office will take advantage of this dependency in 
the next election, and that it will call for an independent 
Secretariat as part of its election reform proposals. 
 
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Ahktaruzzaman claimed that the final election reform proposal 
will be made public "the day after tomorrow." 
 
5.(C) Comment: Aziz's appointment came as a surprise after 
the presumed front-runner, World Bank alternate director Dr. 
Akbar Ali Khan, told reporters he was uninterested in the 
job.  Aziz did not distinguish himself as chairman of the ACC 
leadership search committee, which took seven months to 
complete its work and came up with a weak shortlist of names, 
two of which had to be dropped after negative information 
surfaced about their past.  Aziz, however, has his admirers 
as a judge, including some within the AL, and the AL's early 
rejection of his appointment centered on the lack of 
consultation rather than Aziz as an individual.  As the AL 
labors to show that the electoral framework is hopelessly 
biased against it, criticism of Aziz and his alleged BNP ties 
will likely intensify. 
THOMAS