My colleague Monzurul Islam has described from A to Z about the 11 national parliament elections through his five-part write-up at the Prothom Alo. The first parliament election in Bangladesh was held on 7 March 1973 where the win of ruling Awami League was inevitable. But to show their absolute dominance the party did not allow some of the opposition party candidates to submit their nomination papers. In some constituencies they also hijacked the win of the opponents by exerting forces. The final result of the election was Awami League 293, Jasod 1, Jatiya League 1, and independent 5.
According to the political analysts, had the ruling party not exerted power in that election the dynamics of the politics could have been different. After that the second national parliament election took place on 18 February 1979 during the era of military ruler Ziaur Rahman. He was allowed to practice the multiparty democracy only to the extent where his absolute power is ensured. In that election the then formed BNP got 207 seats. While the opponent Awami League got 39. After the killing of Zia, Hussain Mumhammad Ershad ascended to power thanks to arms power. During his regime two national elections were held in 1986 and 1988. In the 1986 election Ershad’s Jatiya Party got 153 seats, Awami League got 76 and Jamat-e-Islami got 10. BNP did not take part in this election. In the 1988 election Jatiya Party got 291 seats while ASM Rab-led combined opposition party got nine seats. Awami League, BNP and others rejected it.
After Ershad was ousted by a mass-uprising two and a half years later, Khaleda Zia-led BNP got 140 seats in the fifth parliament election in 1991 and ascended to power with the support of Jamat. After that under the leadership of Awami League a movement took place from 1994-96 demanding caretaker government as Jatiya Party, Jamaat and almost all opposition parties irrespective of right or left took part in it. BNP formed a parliament by winning the election on 15 February 1996 but that did not last more than one and a half months under the pressure of movements. The parliament was disbanded by passing the nonpartisan caretaker government law on 30th March.
After that under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina, Awami League got 146 seats in the 12 June election and came to power after 21 years with the aid of Jasod Rab and Jatiya Party. BNP regained power by getting 207 seats in the 1 October 2001 election. Awami League once again formed a government with Jatiya party after getting 230 seats in the 29 December election of 2008.
The parliaments that had balance between the government and the opposition parties in the electoral politics of Bangladesh, those parliaments were more effective and livelier. The ruling party had to be accountable. But the winners of more than two-third seats did not bother to be accountable. On the other hand, the opposition parties tried to decide things in the streets rather than in the parliament. They still are.
Awami League and BNP have been relentlessly debating whether the current crisis started in 2004 or 2011. But it does not seem either of the parties are paying much heed to the aspirations of people.
In this context, what will be the nature of the 12th national parliament election that is going to be held on Sunday? From the news already in the media, it can be said for sure that this election will not be held in any previous model. New models will be created. There are also new types of rivalry and competition. Especially one of the candidates from two or more candidates of the ruling party are vying with a boat. Others have eagles, trucks, scissors, etc. as independent candidates.
This election may not follow the model of any previous elections but it has a chance to have proximity to the second parliament. In the second parliament election during the Ziaur Rahman era there were parliament members from almost every first-row party that took part in the elections. In that election apart from BNP and Awami League, there were members from Jasod, NAP, Samyabadi Dal, Muslim League and even Islamic Democratic League. There were rumours in the political arena that Zia picked up one or two representatives from each party to present a multiparty democracy.
This time too, whatever the ground reality is, various activities are going on to elect certain candidates or candidates of Jatiya Party (GM Quader), Jatiya Party (Raushan), Trinamool BNP known as King's Party, Kalyan Party, BNF etc. A report about this was published in Prothom Alo on Thursday.
It says: 'Some circles close to the government are working to make winners of certain candidates outside the candidates who got boats. Local Awami League leaders are being brought down to campaign for these candidates. Pressure is exerted in some places. Prothom Alo's investigation has found information about such activities in at least 15 constituencies.
In that case the Awami League candidates who got the boat had to ‘sacrifice’ more. 32 people sacrificed for the Jatiya Party and the allies of the 14-party alliance. Since BNP is not in the election, the election war is already between Awami League boats and independent candidates. At least one-third of the 300 seats will be contested between the two parties. No matter who wins this contest, the victory will belong to Awami League. But it will be a unique instance in our electoral history if the boat has to be sacrificed in some constituencies.
In many aspects this election may claim itself as unprecedented.
*Sohrab Hassan is joint editor at Prothom Alo and poet.