Stopping 'nomination business'
EC's new proposal has meat in it
Coming on top of earlier moves toward political reforms, the new proposal regarding nomination of parliamentary candidates advanced by the Election Commission certainly calls for objective study. The EC has of course made the suggestion as a way of rolling back the centralised nomination process that has been pursued so long by the major political parties. Briefly, the tendency at the last couple of general elections has been for both the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to award nominations to individuals whose willingness to inject money into the party coffers was a major consideration behind the nomination-related decisions. The result has not quite been helpful to the cause of democracy, given that individuals with money that again may not have been gained by transparent, incorruptible means walked away with choice nominations. In turn, such a demonstration of the power of money alienated party workers at the grassroots and in quite a few significant cases ignited internal party revolts.Now that the EC has proposed that nominations be centred on the constituencies rather than on decisions made at the central party level, it is important that the parties, all of them, will see the wisdom of the proposal. The proposal envisages the selection of two or more tentative candidates at the primary level through secret ballot for a particular constituency; and of these candidates, one will be chosen by the party parliamentary board as the party nominee for the general election. The proposal appears to be a reasonable one, especially in light of its emphasis on the opinions of party workers inhabiting a constituency. Besides, such a process of selection of candidates is in vogue in other countries. The primary system in the United States has been a fact of political life for decades. In the United Kingdom, the very suggestion that our EC has made has been a political reality for years on end. Given these facts, and given too the reality of how corruption has seeped into the nomination procedure of the major parties, the proposal from the Election Commission calls for serious deliberation by the parties. However, for the EC proposal to acquire more substance, it is necessary that the organisation and role of the local, grassroots units of the parties be emphasised. Since at the primaries it will be the local members of the political parties who will be choosing their nominees, the parties must first formalise the functions and leadership structure of their local units. The EC plans to discuss its proposal with the political parties once indoor politics resumes. The results of such a dialogue ought to be fruitful.
|
|
