Address citizens’ concerns to ensure high voter turnout

We are in near proximity to Bangladeshs 12th National Parliamentary Elections. The nation will have a new administration for the next five years on January 7. The ruling party, the Awami League, is concentrating on making sure that voters show up at the polls in light of the current situation, in which the biggest opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has boycotted the impending election and is using mass communication to discourage voters from visiting the polls. Additionally, the low voter turnout in the most recent elections presents a significant problem for the Election Commission as well as the government. While their efforts are continuing, if our political parties and its leaders could have addressed the peoples issues at a greater extent, the voters would participate in the vote more enthusiastically.
The link between leaders and citizens is crucial in the tapestry of democracy. As elections approach, democratic leaders have an obligation to interact with and answer the actual concerns of the people they serve. Leaders are charged with the sacred responsibility of preserving the welfare and interests of the people in the preamble of democratic governance. To fulfill this role, democratic leaders must prioritize resolving residents concerns before the political campaign gets underway. However, most of our politicians are preoccupied with gaining power while disregarding the true problems of the people.
Democratic leaders must foster an environment of active listening. Leaders can obtain significant insights into the difficulties encountered by all parts of society by establishing open channels of communication.
 Furthermore, leaders should be transparent in their actions and decision-making processes. A transparent governance model not only enhances the democratic fabric, but it also guarantees that leaders are aware of the critical challenges confronting the public.
Leaders must prioritize tackling systemic concerns that affect citizens on a large scale in the run-up to elections. Concurrently, democratic leaders must recognize the value of localized problem-solving. While broad policies are necessary, the specificity of citizens lives needs a strong awareness of local concerns. This decentralized strategy assures that no demographic group is disregarded or marginalized. Leaders should also work to close access and representation gaps, building an inclusive democracy that cherishes all voices, especially those of minority groups and those with disabilities.
Regretfully, the promises made by our candidates in the national elections do not take into account the actual problems facing the populace. It is true that, Bangladesh has gone through immense development during the last decade as the President of the ruling party, Awami League and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina completely focused on realizing her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahmans dream of Sonar Bangla. But along with benefits of such development, the citizens are going through several difficulties in meeting their ends and the people want the leaders to ease their lives this time.
Over the past few years, practically all commodity product prices have climbed significantly. Along with rising living expenses, the cost of gas, oil, and electricity also increased. Every price hike seemed like an assault on the people and resulted in a general increase in the cost of commodities of all kinds. In recent months, the food inflation rate hit a record high of 12.5%. Rising costs for necessities have drawn a lot of attention from the public and authorities in Bangladesh. The country is undergoing a period of heightened inflationary pressure, a phenomenon that commenced before the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war immediately after the deadly COVID-19 pandemic and is now enhanced by Israeli genocide on Gaza. But few groups extreme greed is making the situation more frightening.
The current situation has been made worse by the notable fluctuations in energy prices that Bangladesh has encountered recently. Domestic issues, such as market distortion brought about by a small number of dominating enterprises and insufficient monitoring procedures, have an impact on the continuous price increase. The rising cost of products and services makes it more difficult for lower-income households to manage money appropriately.
There is a notable concentration of market power in the essential goods sector, primarily held by a limited number of enterprises. Anti-competitive actions, such as manipulating prices, controlling the supply of goods on the market, and purposefully creating scarcity by stockpiling goods in order to benefit excessively, could arise from this circumstance. In Bangladesh, market syndicates of this kind are well-known, but the government has done nothing to effectively combat them. Farmers and producers are still battling for a higher price for their goods even though these syndicates are taking big profits from the market. As a result, there is great suffering for both the actual producers and the customers.
Furthermore, it is likely that Bangladesh would experience extreme economic strain in the years to come as the people are required to shoulder the responsibility of repaying the principal and interest on the enormous loans taken out for various megaprojects. As a result, there will be more pressure on taxes and other government revenue collections. However, the process is heavily tainted with corruption, and residents must deal with severe consequences for unethical behavior at government departments. For the citizens, it is putting more strain on them.
Even if food, clothing and housing are arranged, the cost of healthcare and education has dramatically skyrocketed. Due to the nations rapid development, pressure is being felt by both the rural and urban populations.  As we have inadequate health or education facility at different parts of the country, people have to endure extra cost to avail such facilities at a distant location. Hence, while the income of the people is increasing, their costs are increasing to a much higher extent.
The pervasive corruption is primarily to blame for the immense burden that the common people are under. A significant portion of the public coffers is being depleted by corruption in the banking industry and throughout the public service sector, encompassing infrastructure, power, utilities, etc. Everything might have worked in the publics advantage if corruption could have been controlled. We cannot ignore the reality that a certain amount of corruption is also practiced by people. However, the government can contain this threat if it acts with good intentions.
Most of the people do not really care if the country is developing or not. They mostly do not care about who is forming the government and who is not. The ordinary citizens want to ensure the basic rights of their family members - food, clothing, housing, education and health. But the Bangladeshi people are struggling to ensure that much. Even with so much national progress, the people are sleepless as thoughts of tougher days do not let them sleep in peace.
The political parties or their leaders are making many commitments to the people before this upcoming election. But unfortunately, they are not providing any true guidelines on how they will ease the sufferings of the people. There are different issues of the people of each constituency and the leaders need to address those. The manifesto of different political parties came so late that the people had no chance to relate to that. Most importantly, strong commitment towards peoples welfare was critically missing in the speeches of the election candidates.
It is clear that the public will not be interested in taking part in the polls if political leaders and parties are unable to establish a connection with the people. A bond could have been formed if our leaders had been able to present the voters with a comprehensive action plan outlining how they would protect everyones fundamental rights. However, that really was not the case. Therefore, we should not anticipate a high voter turnout in forthcoming elections either.
We will shortly welcome a new administration, and ideally, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas enormous development efforts would continue. In addition, the new administration must act decisively to lessen the suffering of the populace as it is truly important to achieve all humanitarian goals. If that happens, though this election is gone, we need not be worried about voter turnout in the election that will be held after 5 years.
The writer is Editor at Mohammadi News Agency (MNA) and Executive Editor at Kishore Bangla