What was the point of EC’s dialogue?

We are hardly surprised that there was no meaningful outcome of the dialogue arranged by the Election Commission (EC) with all the registered political parties in the country on Saturday. Almost a third of the parties invited, including the BNP, did not even attend the talks, which were arranged reportedly to apprise them of its preparations to hold the upcoming 12th parliamentary election. The commission decided to hold the dialogue at a time when the ongoing political crisis had taken a turn for the worse, and there were expectations that it would play a constructive role in addressing the key concerns raised by the major political parties. However, in the absence of any real attempt to tackle the root causes of the current political impasse, such a dialogue was bound to fail.

The EC scheduled the dialogue only three days after the BNP's botched rally, which descended into chaos and violence following clashes between the party members and police. Since the October 28 mayhem, law enforcement agencies have arrested at least 7,835 BNP leaders and activists around the country till November 4, including at least seven of its top leaders, according to a Prothom Alo report. Other leaders are in hiding to escape arrest. In this situation, did the EC really expect someone from the BNP to show up at the dialogue?

Besides BNP, 16 other parties boycotted the dialogue, seeing it as a futile exercise. Bangladesh Jasod released a statement explaining that it boycotted the dialogue as it would have no influence on ensuring a conducive environment for a free and fair election. Even a former election commissioner told this daily that the EC held the talks "just to show that they have called everybody once again and that they did not get support [from all political parties]." When a country is engulfed in such turmoil, these kinds of formulaic dialogues do little to boost the political parties' confidence. The EC should have anticipated that.

What we really need right now is some meaningful actions from the major political parties to resolve the ongoing political stalemate. The election is less than three months away, and the two main political camps, Awami League and BNP, are showing no sign of compromise. If this continues, we are afraid the spate of political violence will continue till the election, and the situation will get even worse. Unfortunately, as the crackdown on opposition leaders intensifies across the country, the hope of a constructive dialogue between the parties now seems to be a far-off dream, thanks in part to the EC, which has thus far failed to create a level playing field and inspire confidence in its ability to steer the country through a free and fair election.

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