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Bangladesh Islamist Party Changes Charter To Qualify For Registration

By Howard M. Friedman

In Bangladesh, the Election Commission has ordered political parties to register, or else they will be disqualified from running candidates in the December 18 election that will bring Parliamentary democracy back to the country. (Registration laws.) For two years the country has been ruled by caretaker regimes. (Background). Today's Daily Star reports that the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party has made changes to its charter to qualify it to register. Its earlier charter had provided that only Allah could be accepted as the law-making authority, that party members must not swear loyalty to anyone except Allah and must refuse to obey anything that is not ordained by Allah and based on Allah's laws. The Election Commission held that these provisions unconstitutionally undermined the legislative authority given to Parliament by Bangladesh's Constitution. It is expected that between 30 and 35 parties will eventually qualify for registration, though many more have applied.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on October 24, 2008 (boomark / email).