London, United Kingdom — Behind the fluorescent-lit glass counters, silver trays of singhara — also known as samosa — biryani and hash browns sit side by side. Two men in forest-green polo shirts, the cafe’s standard uniform, move briskly between the grill and the till, taking orders as the lunchtime crowd thickens, then thins again.Inside Casablanca Cafe, the scrape of faux-leather chairs mixed with low conversation competes with traffic and the occasional siren on Whitechapel Road.Some customers hurry through plates of chicken curry and rice during short breaks from nearby offices; others linger over fried eggs, beans and toast, chatting before heading next door for prayers at East London Mosque.At a worn wooden table in the centre of the room, Khaled Noor cradles a tall glass of ginger and honey tea. For months now, he says, Bangladesh’s upcoming election has been a constant topic of conversation.“Since the elections were announced,” Noor, a barrister and political scientist, said, “people haven’t stopped talking about it.” Jahanara Begum, left, and Romina Khatun, Bangladeshi women in London who have voted remotely ahead of the February 12 Bangladesh elections [Indlieb Farazi Saber/Al Jazeera]A long-awaited voteThe vote, scheduled for February 12, will be Bangladesh’s first national election since the removal of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and the first in nearly two decades expected to feature genuine competition. It follows years of tightly managed polls, opposition boycotts and allegations of repression under Hasina that left many voters at home disillusioned and deepened frustration among Bangladeshis ov …
