Election being held ‘to look for opposition': Sakhawat Hossain

The forthcoming 12th parliamentary election is “a process to find out an opposition”, said former election commissioner Brigadier General (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain on Wednesday.

“The politics of begging seats (constituencies) has been going on. Twenty six political parties have been taking part in the election but none can say the names of even 13 parties. After the distribution, as many as 240 seats for the governing party are ensured,” he told a discussion titled ‘Bangladesh at a crossroad: Election, Economy and External Relation’.

Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) organised the discussion at a city hotel where former bureaucrats, ambassadors, former Bangladesh Bank governors, economists, human rights activists, election experts and senior journalists took part.

Sakhawat Hossain remarked that an attempt is on to create a “new definition” of participatory election.

“Some have been trying to say that it is participatory if the people participate. Then why do you raise questions on the election conducted during the regimes of military dictators? Participatory election means participation of the political parties who can throw challenges and make the election competitive,” he stated.

Shakhawat Hossain said, “Whoever has come to power has corrupted the system. Five per cent voter turnout is being shown as 15 per cent. Is the rate of voter turnout credible?.”

The former election commissioner expressed apprehension if the voter turnout would be even 20 to 25 per cent.

Sakhawat Hossain thinks the politics would not exist anymore after this election.

“Competitive politics would no longer exist in the country. We’ll have to forget about liberal democracy and enter a specialised democracy,” he added.

New Age editor Nurul Kabir said the ruling party does not have any chance to lose in the next general election.

"A fair election is the first step to establish democracy but we failed to take that step in the last 52 years. Corrupt businesses, politicians and bureaucrats have created an evil nexus. There is no way out without breaking this nexus," he added.

Nurul Kabir said the government is going to hold a one-sided election going against the will of people.

“India, Russia and China are lending support. We buy products from them spending our money while we earn money by selling products to Europe and America. We spend in one region while we earn from another region. So we have to calculate where is our economic interest," he added.

CGS’ chairman Manjur Ahmed Chowdhury presided over the event conducted by CGS executive director Zillur Rahman.