![\"Hasina\"](\"https:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Hasina.jpg\")
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is the president of the ruling Bangladesh Awami League (AL), officially launched her election campaign on Tuesday.\nThe general election in Bangladesh is scheduled to be held by the end of the year.
\nThe prime minister offered a prayer at the holy shrine of Muslim saint Hazrat SHajjalal in Sylhet division, some 300 km from the capital Dhaka, and launched her election campaign there.
\nMeanwhile, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), another major political stakeholder, is struggling with the political future of its chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia due to a graft case, which is scheduled to be decided in court on Feb. 8.
\nPolitical scientists, however, expect free, fair and inclusive polls to be held some time between Oct. 31 and Dec. 31, 2018.
\n\u201cIn the democratic process, an election is a must. To comply with the constitutional obligation, the AL will take part in the next general election,\u201d said Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, a parliamentarian and organizing secretary of the AL.
\nChowdhury told Arab News: \u201cThe BNP chairperson\u2019s trial in a graft case is a milestone in establishing the rule of law in a country like Bangladesh. If the BNP goes for vandalizing and anarchy in reaction to the verdict of the case, the people of the country will resist it. People do not condone an anarchic situation anymore.\u201d
\nAlthough tension is building for BNP policymakers and its members over the graft case verdict for Zia, who has served as the country\u2019s premier three times, the party feels that the verdict will not have any negative impact on it in the election.
\nRuhul Kabir Rizvi, senior joint secretary general of the BNP, called the graft case against Zia \u201cpolitically motivated\u201d and claimed that the ruling party was bound to lose its popularity among voters for \u201charassing\u201d its key political opponent.
\nRizvi told Arab News that \u201cif the court declares the verdict against the chairperson, we will protest it strongly in a democratic way.\u201d
\nThe BNP boycotted the general election in 2014, demanding the reintroduction of a caretaker government during the election period, which eventually led to more than half of the current Parliament members being elected uncontested. This year, the BNP has again demanded an \u201cElection Period Assisting Government.\u201d
\n\u201cThe BNP is a pro-election party, and to ensure a level-playing field during the election we are demanding this \u2018Election Period Assisting Government.\u2019 Still, we have 11 months in hand and I believe the prime minister of the country also wants an inclusive general election for the next Parliament,\u201d said Rumin Farhana, a barrister and the assistant international affairs secretary of the BNP.
\nWhile the two major parties are concerned about the formation and nature of the election period government, the country\u2019s leftist political wing has expressed a different concern.
\n\u201cThe election should be organized by the election commission of the country. The government during that period will only do the \u2018routine work\u2019 according to the constitution and the government will only facilitate the role of the election commission. Now, we just need to define this routine work,\u201d said Ruhin Hossain Prince, the secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh. The left-wing parties are planning to form an eight-party political alliance to compete in the next parliamentary election, Prince said.
\nProfessor Ataur Rahman, president of the Political Science Association, told Arab News: \u201cSo far in the race, the ruling party is in a better position. But in the end, we might experience a good election.\u201d
\n\u201cThe ruling AL is implementing its development agenda, handling the Rohingya crisis successfully, taking the Islamic political parties into confidence, and addressing the demands of different professional groups.\u201d
\nRahman said that the AL may consider a \u201cpolitical concession\u201d for its core opponent party in the form of a small Cabinet comprising all major parties representatives, headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, as a form of \u201celection period government.\u201d
\n\u201cI think this is the possible best option for the ruling party and things are moving in that direction,\u201d he said.
\nThe government would prefer to hold an inclusive general election to form the next Parliament \u201cotherwise the political situation may assume the worse shape,\u201d Rahman said.<\/p>\n