Security was tight in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka yesterday as thousands of opposition supporters prepared to rally near the presidential palace to demand a delay of next month's elections.
The opposition said Sheilkh Hasina, leader of the main opposition Awami League, would make a "key speech" on the upcoming polls.
"She will demand a reconstitution of the election commission and a delay in the election schedule by more than a month," Obaidul Kader, an opposition spokesman, said.
"It is now impossible to join the January 23 elections because the caretaker government has yet to implement some of our key electoral demands which are a must for free and fair polls," he said.
The opposition has been demanding that President Iajuddin Ahmed, the head of the interim government, remove two controversial election commissioners seen as being biased in favour of the outgoing Bangladesh National Party (BNP) of Khaleda Zia.
The president has said he will send one of them on extended leave but has so far refused to do the same for the other.
Experts said the demand to delay elections will create a constitutional crisis as the country's interim government has the mandate to organize elections within only 90 days of its tenure.
Bangladesh's interim government vowed last week it was making a last-ditch attempt to meet the opposition's remaining demands. But the deadline passed on Saturday.
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