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B'desh Parliament to meet for last session before polls
Bangladesh's eighth Parliament is set to meet for its last session before the next elections, possibly amid an Opposition boycott.
Bangladesh's eighth Parliament is set to meet on Sunday for its last session before the next general elections, possibly amid an Opposition boycott.
Officials on Saturday said this will be Parliament's 23rd session and would see the adoption of some "important' laws, but did not elaborate.
The opposition, led by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed's Awami League party, has called for a day-long nationwide general strike on Sunday and sources said that its lawmakers were unlikely to be present on the first day of the session.
The strike is to protest police action, which left a former minister and MP hospitalised, during a rally demanding electoral reforms last Thursday.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Moudd Ahmed said the session would adopt some "important" bills and it would run as long as needed to fulfil that plan.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led four-party Islamic alliance ends its five-year term on October 27 and a caretaker government takes charge the following day to hold national election within the next three months.
Analysts said the Parliament session was going to be a stormy one with the opposition pressing for electoral reforms to ensure free and fair voting. Zia has shunned the demands for reforms.
