Dhaka, Feb. 4 -- The road to Satkhira runs along rivers and rice fields, skirting a restless border with India. Politics here is tougher, more ideological, and less forgiving of weakness. In the parliamentary election, that difference has sharpened.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami, once electoral allies, now face each other as direct competitors. With the Awami League and the Workers Party absent from the contest, the district has become a test of cohesion versus fracture, memory versus momentum.

Voters and observers agree on the stakes.

Of Satkhira's four seats, any BNP breakthrough will depend almost entirely on unity. Any Jamaat "return" will hinge on BNP disunity. History weighs heavily.

In the fifth par...