Campaign of violence

摘要

Rarely in the rudest of health, Bangladesh's democratic institutions are looking in worse shape than ever. The five-year term of a coalition between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Islamist allies expired on October 27th. A dysfunctional parliament was dissolved and a partisan president, Iajuddin Ahmed, has had himself sworn in as head of an unelected interim government, to oversee elections due in January. But it is still far from certain that the more than 90m voters will actually be given the chance to choose a new government.