Friday, November 21, 2008

Bangladesh Elections Threaten To Disenfranchise Muslims On Hajj

Wednesday's Daily Star reports on an election controversy in Bangladesh. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for December 18. This however is during the Hajj, and over 48,000 Bangladeshis who will be in Saudi Arabia for the religious pilgrimage will be disenfranchised. The BNP-four party alliance has demanded that election be rescheduled. However some legal experts argue that rescheduling would violate the election code that prohibits using religion for political or electoral purposes.