The democratic journey starts with ensuring the right to vote. This right was taken away from us and now we want to restore the right. We must have democracy.
This assertion was made by Badiul Alam Majumdar, head of the electoral system reform commission, at a discussion on 'Restoring People's Voting Rights: The Role of the Electoral System Reform Commission' held today. Monday, at The Westin in the capital city. Organised by Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies, this was a part of the BIPSS Policy Café series dealing with issues of current affairs.
Media must play a watchdog role, inform the public about the bad things, the candidates, the political parties and what they are committing. Unless they do that without fear, things will be same as before
He started his presentation with the question of who the stakeholders were in a free and fair election. The most important stakeholder, he said, is the election commission. If the election commission is courageous, non-partisan and honest, only then can they take steps for a free and fair election. And if the election commission is not neutral, if its members are partisan, then there will simply be a repetition of the last two or three elections.
The next important stakeholder, said Badiul Alam Majumdar, is the government. This includes both the bureaucracy and the law enforcement agencies. If they are neutral, then the election commission can hold a free and fair election. That was wanting in the last few elections.
The third stakeholder is the political parties. If they don't behave, if they don't play the game by the rules, if they are bent on coming to power at any cost, the same thing will be repeated as in the past.
The commission head went on to say that the next important stakeholder is the civil society. Its role includes mobilising public opinion, making sure the election commission acts in a neutral manner and so on. He regretted that the civil society was in such a precarious state at present, that it was being dubbed as an evil society rather than a civil society. It had either been subservient to the ruling party or simply remained silent.
Media was the next stakeholder. Media must play a watchdog role, inform the public about the bad things, the candidates, the political parties and what they are committing. Unless they do that without fear, things will be same as before.
In the past, the international observers were not issued visas. And those that did come were not genuine observers. They were brought in by the government and gave the government narrative
Moderating the discussion, the BIPSS president Maj. Gen. ANM Muniruzzaman (retd), said that the electoral process was the cornerstone of any functioning democracy. It is through this process that the people exert their rights. The whole integrity of the electoral system was lost over the past 16 years, he said, adding that now the time had arrived for the rebuilding process.
He questioned Badiul Alam Majumdar about the election commission being constituted before the reforms. The commission chief Majumdar replied that there was immense pressure on the government to get the election train rolling. A search committee had first been formed for the purpose. While there had been criticism of the law that had be formulated in the past to this end, he pointed out that even a bad law could serve a purpose if the search committee is honest and if they can identify the right people to form the election commission.
What are the top priorities for the election commission to consider, questioned General Muniruzzaman.
Badiul Alam Majumdar replied, first cleaning up the electoral roll. There was a glaring gender gap in the roll. In 2008 it was seen that the number of women voters stood at 1.4 million. Now there are 2.4 million more men. Then there was the matter of 2 million people outside of the country, the diaspora. They had no opportunity to vote. Then there was also the issue of reserved seats for women where they were not being able to play a role. All these issues called for attention.
When the question of campaign finance was raised, Badiul Alam Majumdar said, that's the biggie! We have a democracy that money can buy. Each candidate is allowed to spend Tk 1.5 million, but there is so much other unseen spending, there is the "nomination trade", and so on.
Politics has become business, he said, but now political will have to become public service. We have to find a way to change the political culture and mindset, to have no more buying votes. It is the political parties who have to transform politics. Controlling money is the biggest challenge.
Coming to media as a key stakeholder, General Munir raised the question of the massive disinformation being spread. Badiul Alam Majumdar agreed that this was a problem and a challenge on an international level too, as was seen in the recent US elections. It was a problem even in western countries and was not easy to prevent.
General Munir suggested developing a system of robust fact checking. He then asked about the role of international community as well foreign election observers.
Badiul Alam Majumdar said that the role of observers was very important. In the past, the international observers were not issued visas. And those that did come were not genuine observers. They were brought in by the government and gave the government narrative. He said that the international community could assist by funding the travel of the observers.
Suggesting technological devices to curb violence in the elections, General Munir questioned what technology could be incorporated to make the election more transparent.
The commission head replied that CCTVs are effective, though costly. He also spoke of using technology for the expatriates to vote, thought there was an element of mistrust. Estonia had been using electronic voting for its expatriate voters successfully, but in Bangladesh people may trust their money with electronic banking, but were wary when it came to their votes. He ruled out the use of EVM for now.
Coming to inclusive participation in the election, the election reform commission chief pointed to a rotational system for women candidates, where the seats would be increased to 400. There would be 100 seats reserved for women, where they would compete with other women in direct voting. Men and women could both compete in the remaining 300 seats. This would be on a rotational basis and eventually they would all be competing with both male and female contestants.
Member of the search committee for the election commission, CR Abrar, who was present at the event, briefly shed light on the selection process. He said that there were certain criteria, such as the persons would have to be minimum 50 years of age and have 20 years of service. We had complete freedom, he asserted, and several hundred people and groups and political parties sent in names. These were scrutinised minutely. Then 10 names were passed on out of which five were selected. He emphasised here had been no interference whatsoever in the process and they were delighted to be able to carry out this task. He was also happy that there had not been much controversy over the issue and looked forward to a good commission with competent people on board.
In his opening remarks, Shafqat Munir, senior research fellow at BIPSS, highlighted the ongoing initiative to restore the right to vote in Bangladesh. Introducing the head of the election reform commission, he said that when the history of this recent Monsoon Revolution would be chronicled in history, the name of Badiul Alam Majumdar would be written in golden letters. He has been a guiding light for those who aspire democracy in Bangladesh.