Proportional representation system in discussion

Reforms in electoral systems in Bangladesh has been one of the major talking points after the interim government led by Dr Yunus assumed power.

A major portion of the political parties is in favor of the introduction of proportional representation (PR) system instead of the existing system.

However, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) does not want a PR system and backs the existing one. Awami League’s stance on the issue could not be known.

Eminent personalities favoured the introduction of the PR system in a virtual discussion meeting on ‘state reform and constitution amendment’ on Saturday maintaining that it will be effective to stave off any autocracy in future.

Representatives of BNP, Communist Party of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Jatiya Party, AB Party, Ganasamhati Andolan and Gono Odhikar Parishad spoke at the seminar on Saturday. Except for the BNP, others sought a PR system. Recently Jamaat in its reform proposal also placed a PR system.

In the PR system, there would be no constituency-based election. The voters will cast their votes to political parties instead of candidates. A party will get parliamentary seats based on the percentage of votes it receives. In different countries three methods of elections are followed in the PR system-- Open list, closed-list and mixed method system.

In the open list policy, the parties announce the list of candidates within the EC-stipulated time. The seats are allocated. After the declaration of the results, the seats are distributed as per the order of the list at a proportional rate according to the number of votes received. The list of candidates is not published in the closed-list system. And in the mixed system, proportional elections are conducted in some constituencies while other constituencies follow the ‘winner-take-all’ system. Some countries have bicameral parliaments. In this case, some countries follow a PR system in one house and constituency-based election in another house.

The demand of introduction of a PR system in elections is not new in the country’s political arena. Some political parties have been demanding this electoral method for quite some time. The election commission (EC) held a dialogue with registered political parties in 2017, before the 11th parliamentary election. 

In that discussion, some parties including Jatiya Party, CPB, Bangladesh Islamic Front, Islami Andolan Bangladesh, Bangladesh National Awami Party, Biplopbi Workers Party, Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BASD) proposed to hold elections under the PR system. However, the Workers' Party proposed to introduce proportional representation’s mixed system in addition to the existing system.

Before the 12th parliamentary elections, some parties, including the Jatiya Party, proposed a proportional election in the dialogue called by the Habibul Awal commission.

Experts say that the constitution must be amended to hold elections under the PR system. Also, there are some other complications. Striking a political consensus to implement this approach soon might be difficult. In the current system, a party needs to get a majority of seats to form a government. That means they have to get more than 150 seats. A coalition or coalition government can be formed if this number of seats is not won by any party. Elections under the proportional representation system can make it difficult for a single party to form a government.

Although discussion on the introduction of the PR system has been on the horizon, the interim government is yet to make its opinion on the issue public. Commissions for constitution reform and electoral system reform have just begun their works. Whether these commissions will bring forth the issue in their proposals is not clear yet.

The Jatiya Party has been demanding a PR system for a long time. The JaPa secretary general Mujibul Haque told Prothom Alo that the existing electoral system does not ensure representation of the majority of the population.

He cited an example of an election he competed in. Mujibul got 62,500 votes and Awami League’s candidate 62,000 votes. BNP’s candidate won securing 63,000 votes. Here the person elected MP represents 63,000 people while more than 120,000 people who voted for the two lost candidates don’t have the representation. There is a chance of representation of the majority under the PR system while it will also curb the use of illegal money and electoral fraudulence.

Meanwhile BNP supports the existing system. The party’s standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury told Prothom Alo election is also intertwined with culture. Bangladesh has followed the Westminster style of democracy since its birth and BNP is in favor of this system. Changing this system requires public consent.  So, there is no scope to introduce this system in the next general election.

He maintained that reform should be carried out in issues where consensus can be reached.

Meanwhile some political parties such as the AB Party wants consensus of all on the PR system despite being in favour of the PR system.

Two types of election systems are more prevalent throughout the world; one is ‘First-Past-The-Post (FPTP)’ and the other is ‘Proportional Representation’. As per the existing constitution of the country, the parliament consists of 350 members. Of them, 300 are elected through direct vote while 50 reserved for women are taken from parties or alliances based on proportion of their representation in the direct seats.

A single constituency is a parliamentary seat. Now elections in the country are based on parliamentary constituencies, known as FPTP. In this system the person who gets the most votes among the candidates contesting a parliamentary seat is elected. Here the voter turnout or how many votes a party got across the country does not matter. What matters is how many seats you get. Apart from this, the existing law allows a single candidate to be declared the winner without a vote if there are no contesting candidates.
 

The Asian Growth Research Institute’s professor Nazrul Islam told Prothom Alo that a total of 91 out of 170 countries follow the PR system of election. Around 70 per cent of member states (25 out of 36) of Organisation of Economic Development and Cooperation (OEDC) follow the PR system.
Nazrul Islam said the existing electoral system gives way to autocracy. For that, a PR system would be the most effective way for Bangladesh.

Former chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal wrote an article titled 'Government and Elections of Proportional Representation System' in a national daily on 17 August.

“In this system elections are conducted between registered political parties instead of individual candidates. There will not be 300 constituencies. Bangladesh will be a single constituency. A party will get the number of seats in parliament in proportion to the percentage of the total votes cast in the election.”

Parliamentary affairs researcher professor Nizam Uddin Ahmad told Prothom Alo that the only way to prevent the prime minister from becoming a dictator is the PR system. Getting absolute majority by a single party is almost impossible if vote is conducted under the PR system. As per the results of the previous elections, no party could have formed the government alone if the voting was based on a PR system. They will have to form a coalition government.

Professor Nizam Uddin thinks that those who got the absolute majority have amended the constitution for their own favour. In the case of a PR election, it will not be possible to amend the constitution without consensus. And necessarily there will be a strong opposition in the parliament.