Saturday | 5 October 2024 | Reg No- 06
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Repeated demands and pledges for fair polls confusing everyone

Published : Sunday, 15 October, 2023 at 12:00 AM  Count : 471
Nizam Ahmed
Amid the persistent threat of boycott by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies, Bangladesh Election Commission is going to announce the schedules for the upcoming 12th national election next month, to hold polls in January, 2024.

BNP and its allies say in no way they will participate in the election if held under the incumbent government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. They have been demanding polls to be held under a non partisan interim government.

As they have been consistently alleging that the elections held under the government of Sheikh Hasina in 2014 and 2018, were rigged, the United States and the European Union, have mounted pressure on Bangladesh government to make the upcoming election fair and credible.

As the instrument for the pressure, the US has sanctioned some law enforcement officials of Bangladesh and issued a visa policy threatening to block entry for some individuals, who would block ways to hold free and fair elections in Bangladesh, resorting to violence.

However, the US and the EU are yet to ask Bangladesh to go for an interim caretaker government to hold the upcoming elections, to directly back the demand of BNP and its allies, in sharp contrast of the prevailing systems of elections in democratic world, where elections are held under the Election Commission approved by the incumbent government.  

Meanwhile Bangladesh has been hosting uninvited missions after missions, delegations after delegations led by respective ministers and senior officials from the US and the EU, who having repeatedly realising assurances from the high ups in the Bangladesh government that it would hold a fair, credible and acceptable election.

Exploiting this opportunity to interfere in Bangladesh's internal matters, the US, the EU and the western rights groups, corruption watchdogs etc have been poking their nose in the country's judicial systems illegally and illogically pressurising the courts and the government to review some landmark verdicts of the country's judiciary.

According to analysts, the intentions of these frequenting foreign missions in Bangladesh, are to create an indirect pressure on the government to bow down to the demands of the rivals of the ruling party.

However, despite an ongoing mostly non-violent campaign by BNP and its allies, the government has been moving ahead to hold the elections, even if boycotted by major opposition parties. It says, elections will be held credibly with the participation of most of the parties registered with the election commission. The government says the elections will, not be affected if BNP and its allies stay out.

However some senior leaders in BNP and its allies including delisted Jamaat-e-Islami hope that the US and the EU will come up at the last moment and will do something that will neutralize Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and an interim administration will conduct the polls, paving the ways for the BNP and its allies to participate.

As the incumbent Bangladesh government stays unmoved under the mounting foreign pressure, the lobbyist groups who had successfully prodded the US for issuing sanctions and announcing visa policies, now trying to encourage both the US and EU to impose economic sanction on Bangladesh. However, according to knowledgeable sources this is not going to happen as the western brands are opposed to such trade and economic sanction against Bangladesh, as the move would severely hit their business interest, as Bangladesh has been a long source of essential products at much cheaper rates.

However, the high ups in BNP do not believe in this supposition and accordingly BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam addressing his party's student front said recently: "You have to come out of campus, occupy the streets, and compel the government to resign and hold a free and fair election. None will come from outside to realise your demand."

The recently flared up deadly conflict between Israel and Palestinians, have caught the US and EU off guard and burdened them with severe  concerns, as a result now they have less time and energy to monitor politics and elections in Bangladesh. It has emerged a new setback for the opponents of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, according to observers.

BNP and its allies boycotted the election in 2014, but participated in 2018 in alliance with some smaller parties, but could win in 7 parliamentary seats out of 300. As the next national election is approaching fast the government and the election commission are preparing for the event. They are taking all measure to hold the election under peaceful atmosphere and steps are taken to make the event violent free ahead and after the polling.

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal on October 12 told BBC that the election might remain incomplete if BNP, a major party, doesn't participate in the polls. "Although different small parties are taking part in the poll, it is undeniable that they are not equal to BNP. If the party (BNP) doesn't participate in the election, there's no doubt that an uncertainty or an incompletion might prevail in the election," he said.

He said the election commission will be happy if the election is held peacefully without any conflict or violence, but it (election) will remain incomplete from the perspective of democratic spirit if BNP doesn't participate.

It seems that the election commission will announce the election schedule at the last moment in November, though it had earlier said the election schedules would be announced in October. It exposes the election commission is also waiting to see the ultimate result of the ongoing soft movement for election under a caretaker government, before it announces the election schedule.

However, analysts think that there are no concrete steps from any side to form an interim government ahead of the election. BNP and its allies have failed to involve general mass in its demand and they have been failing prolong their presence on the streets on their political schedule.

As the ongoing so called movement has failed to budge the government from its stance, there is no hope winning a success ahead of the election. It seems that BNP and its principal ally Jamaat-e-Islami have changed their strategy from violent campaign, which the nation experienced ahead of polls in 2014 and in the first three months of 2015, to peaceful movement, which in nowhere in the world could topple any government, unless it abdicated voluntarily. So according to the analysts, the anti-Hasina movement has no scope of any outcome.

If the movement fails and the government goes ahead to hold the election, it will create a great challenge for BNP and its allies to continue as effective political parties. The parties may face disintegration and many aspiring leaders may dissociate from respective parties and join other organisation to contest in the upcoming polls.

The writer is Business Editor, The Daily Observer


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