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Bangladesh deploys 50,000 troops ahead of polls

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-20 15:29

DHAKA -- Bangladesh has deployed nearly 50,000 troops across the country to avert pre-poll violence ahead of landmark elections on December 29 to restore democracy, officials said on Saturday.

A Bangladeshi security officer (R) keeps watch at an election rally in Dhaka on December 19. Bangladesh has deployed nearly 50,000 troops across the country to avert pre-poll violence ahead of landmark elections on December 29 to restore democracy, officials said on Saturday. [Agencies]

Armed forces spokesman Colonel Kabirul Islam Chowdhury said the soldiers were in each of the country's 64 districts and would be working as "a striking force" to combat any violence ahead of the vote.

"They have already taken position. They will deter any violence and help conduct a smooth polls on December 29," he said.

Senior armed forces official Salauddin Ahmed said about 48,000 troops had taken up their duties as of Saturday.

"One battalion of troops have been deployed in every district," he said, adding the figures could go up.

The deployment comes just nine days before the impoverished country goes to the polls, which will hand over power to an elected government, ending a nearly two-year long rule by an army-backed administration.

Bangladesh has been run by a caretaker government, which in January 2007 cancelled elections and imposed a state of emergency after months of political violence brought the country to a standstill.

The emergency was lifted on Wednesday after 23 months.

The government has pushed through key electoral reforms and compiled a photo-based voter list, which has eliminated some 12.7 million fake voters, in a bid to make the elections credible and fair.

It also launched a nationwide crackdown on corruption over the past two years, detaining politicians including ex-premiers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina Wajed to clean up the country's corruption-infested dysfunctional politics.

The country was ruled by Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Sheikh Hasina for 16 years since democracy was restored in 1991.

But bitter rivalries between the two women and widespread graft have tarnished much of the democratic gains the young country has achieved.

Political commentators say reforms introduced by the government should make the forthcoming elections among the fairest in the world and the best since the country became independent in 1971.

Both women, former prime ministers, have been released on bail in deals with the authorities to ensure their parties, the two biggest in the country, take part in the elections.