Restore faith in polls before local elections

The headlines of two dailies caught the eye regarding the first session of the 12th Jatiya Sangsad that commenced on Tuesday. One of the oldest dailies in the country, Ittefaq, wrote, "The start of a different kind of parliament." And the Bangla tabloid Manabzamin's headlines read, "A strange kind of parliament." These two headlines are enough to remind the readers that even after the election, the political crisis continues to prevail in the country and there is no likelihood of this being resolved any time soon.

The details of the reports further clarify the headlines. Of the 299 members of parliament, 280 are Awami League leaders, according to one report, 282 according to another report. Those there in the name of opposition, have also been accommodated in the seats left for them by Awami League. So no matter by what name it is called, it is a one-party parliament.

In the words of the non-political organisation Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB), this was a contrived game of ruling party candidates, 'independent' candidates of the same party and government-backed candidates from other parties in an election bereft of meaningful political opposition. They described this as an ominous sign for democracy and the future of democratic elections in Bangladesh.

Let me not even mention here the criticism made by those who boycotted the polls. But even Kazi Habibul Awal, the head of the election commission responsible for conducting this staged election, himself acknowledge this, saying on 18 January, "The election has not been acceptable to all," and "The people's faith in the election system has plummeted considerably."

The political harm wrought by this realisation will gradually be manifest even more clearly in the days to come. The financial costs are not to be overlooked either. According to the figures in the TIB report, while the budget allocated for the election had been Tk 14.45 billion (Tk 1,445 crore), this was increased to Tk 22.76 billion (Tk 2,276 crore). In 2018 the expenditure was Tk 7 billion (Tk 700 crore), in 2014 it had been Tk 3 billion (Tk 300 crore), and in 2008 it has been Tk 2 billion (Tk 200 crore). In just a matter of 15 years the expenditure had gone up over 10 times, while the quality of the election had taken a nosedive.

In looking into the reason behind the inflated costs, TIB came up with startling facts. They said, in the previous election, the officials on duty during the voting had been given a one-day allowance. In the 12th national election they were given a two-day allowance, the magistrates and officials of equivalent status were given five days' allowance and officers of the law enforcement 13 days allowance each. TIB could not get any explanation from the election commission as to why 54 per cent of the election budget was spent on law enforcement.

The people have lost faith in the election system. The defeated candidates of the ruling party term this as a farce. The commission can offer no explanation in response to the doubts regarding the unbelievable official voter turnout rates. Under such circumstances how can this very same commission take initiative to hold further elections? This is a vital question.

After the uncontested election held in 2014 under the Kazi Rakib commission, this question has arisen, but there had hardly been any discussion to this end. After all, the political polarisation with BNP and Jamaat on one side had been extreme. In 2018 after the 'night-time' voting of the election under the KM Nurul Huda commission, the issue of regaining faith in the election commission gained some attention. The ruling party in a one-sided move drew up the election commission act, in a plot to show that the problem had been addressed and resolved. But now that this law has proven to be worthless, CEC Awal says, "It will be necessary for the political leadership too, to search for an election system."

Without looking for any credible system of election, preparation is on for the local government elections. The election commission has started preparations in full swing for the Cumilla and Mymensingh city corporation elections and for over 500 upazila elections all over the country. There is no reason to believe that the expenditure on these elections will be any less than that of the 12th national polls. But what can happen in these elections? When the liking of the ruling party is the only key to success, then the people's views are not reflected whatsoever in these election preparations.

The media has reported that Awami League will not allocate the 'boat' symbol in the local government elections. Some have even welcomed this decision. Their simple reasoning is that if there is no provision for party nominations then Awami League may not go to such extremes over the local government polls. But does reality support such reasoning? A review of the hundreds of elections to various local government institutions over the last 10 years indicates that, with four or five exceptions, the ruling party has made sure the candidates of its choice are installed in office.

For quite some time now the ruling Awami League has focussed on establishing its absolute power all over the country. There are innumerable instances of even the elections to professional bodies being thus infiltrated. The changes brought to the laws pertaining to local government after 2009, have all aimed at establishing control on these institutions. That was the motive to coming up with the provision to have elections on party basis. The reason for reverting to the non-partisan polls is the same. It is not out of any political munificence.

The reason why an exception was made to the party constitution in the parliament election, allowing the party leaders and activists to contest independently against the candidates nominated by the party, was to establish full control in parliament. But that did lead to an excess of bloodshed. The deaths that have taken place in this election during violence and clashes between  Awami League's "me" and "dummy" candidates, is no less than the deaths (15) that occurred in the clashes between Awami League and BNP in the 2018 election that BNP joined. The intra-party clashes continue. So now there is yet again a move to amend the law as the priority now is to stop the violence over the 'boat' symbol.

In this election, the candidates of the ruling party who were defeated by the dummy candidates, were basically the sacrificial lambs used for the party's strategic purposes. Unless the crisis created over the election system is resolved, just terming the election as non-partisan will not change anything.

If the election is not held on a party basis, no question arises as to whether BNP will join it as a party or not. At the field level some of the party's supporters may contest as candidates, but the former mayors will be able to tell them what harassment and obstructions the opposition leaders face in running the local government. It is a matter of political culture and democracy. If democracy is not effective on a national level,  it is sheer foolishness to expect democracy to be effective on a local level.

* Kamal Ahmed is a senior journalist

* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir