WE observe with a degree of dismay that despite the oft-repeated commitments by top functionaries of the government and chief of the Election Commission to holding national election by December this year, some political parties keep casting doubt in the EC's staging polls on schedule. This could give rise to a speculative atmosphere in which cynicism about timely election may grow among the people, something we surely can do without at this stage of electoral preparations.
The Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda in EC's talks with the Awami League on Monday made by far the most emphatic statement todate on elections. He went so far as to say that he and his colleagues didn't want to go down as 'national traitors' by reneging on the commitment to hold the ninth parliamentary election before the year-end. That he had to use such a strong expression to allay any creeping suspicion about the polls is a sad commentary on the level of confidence existing between the EC and the political parties. However, after this unequivocal statement from the CEC, none should be left in any doubt about the election taking place as scheduled.
Basically, EC's attention must now be focussed on the components of the roadmap in which they are lagging behind, so as to expedite the process for keeping within the timeframe. For instance, the dialogues with the political parties on electoral reform were scheduled to be completed by November of last year and a law put in place by January this year. While inviting the BNP leadership to the talks the EC formally approached one faction of the party impelling the other side to go to the court. The court's ruling of the issue is awaited keenly now and one hopes it will be available soon with the EC taking the initiative to expedite the process. After all, they brought it on themselves.
In the meantime, the EC would do well to announce a tentative schedule of election with a specific margin of a week between the earliest and latest expected dates. As well as giving specificity and tangibility to the commitment this will help allay any misapprehension among the doubting Thomases.