The EC must evaluate its own performance

The recently concluded city corporation elections in Barishal and Khulna can be termed one-sided. With the main opposition BNP and other political parties not participating in the polls, there was neither contest among the candidates, nor enthusiasm among the voters to cast their votes. Only five out of the 41 registered political parties took part in these elections. According to the Election Commission, the voter turnout was around 50 percent in Barishal and about 42-45 percent in Khulna.

Although the EC seems to be content with the number of voters coming out to vote, the fact is that, if these elections were held in a free and fair atmosphere and all the major political parties participated in it, even more voters would have gone to the polling centres to cast their votes; it is natural to have 80 percent voter turnout in local elections. When we held the first city corporation election in Barishal – under a caretaker government – we were surprised to see the high voter turnout. I was personally present there. There was knee-deep water at the polling centres because of incessant rain, yet people were standing in long queues to vote. The enthusiasm among the voters was extraordinary, because they knew that they could vote for their candidate of choice. The polling environment was very satisfactory, with no report of clashes, vote-rigging or other irregularities.

However, none of the elections over the last 10 years have been held in a manner that could be termed participatory or relatively fair. A series of bad elections has clearly discouraged the voters to vote, their apathy towards the elections becoming particularly clear after the 2014 and 2018 national elections.

At present, the most important question is: can the EC play a more assertive role in the elections? Well, they have to go through a soul-searching process as the nation waits for the next general election, which is going to be a critical one.

In Barishal, the attacks on the mayoral candidate of Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB) and some of his followers, allegedly by the supporters of Awami League, raised questions about the Election Commission's capability. The EC failed to take immediate action against the attackers despite the fact that judicial magistrates were deployed there. Later, they ordered a lengthy enquiry, which may lead to nowhere. Our previous experiences regarding such investigations make us doubtful about the outcome of this one. Has anything happened to those who were involved in irregularities during the Gaibandha-5 by-polls? Have any of the officials been punished? Sadly, no. There were also allegations of vote-rigging and other irregularities in the media.

In Khulna, the situation was even more sad. There was a serious lack of interest among the voters. Although the EC said that 42-45 percent votes were cast, media reports stated that the actual number was much smaller than the figures projected by the EC. Even the people of Khulna questioned the voter turnout. Reportedly, there was no competition because there were no candidates other than the one from the ruling party, which was one big reason why voters were disinterested. Even the hardcore supporters of the ruling party candidate did not show up at the polling centres as the result was obvious.

So, can the popularity of a party be measured by such a small-scale, lacklustre election in a small urban area? The answer is no. The integrity of these elections could not be determined because of the serious allegations that resulted in the IAB rejecting the results and boycotting the elections. The party's participation in the election had been a relief since the major parties were absent. Although in many advanced countries, local elections are indicators of national elections, the case is not the same here.

At present, the most important question is: can the EC play a more assertive role in the elections? Well, they have to go through a soul-searching process as the nation waits for the next general election, which is going to be a critical one.

The EC is not legally bound to all parties that decide not to participate in the elections. But my opinion is that it has a moral obligation to pursue all parties to convince them to participate in the elections, with the assurance that it would discharge its duties neutrally. Shrugging off its moral obligation with unpalatable comments will not add to the cause of gaining public trust.

About taking action against violations of electoral norms, violence and irregularities during elections, the EC has all the power, which it should use. During the elections, the EC has to take instant decisions rather than be bureaucratic. For instance, in Barishal, instant action followed by a detailed enquiry after the IAB candidate was attacked could have had a salutary effect, with apportioning the responsibility on the members of law enforcement agencies who were responsible for maintaining law and order during the polling. There were members of police, Bangladesh Ansar and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB). What were they doing? There were also executive magistrates and judicial magistrates there, who were supposed to punish the offenders instantly. But none of that happened in the Barishal city corporation election, or in any other recent elections.

The EC should evaluate its own performance and find out where it has gone wrong, instead of being complacent. If need be, it should talk to the Islami Andolan Bangladesh to relieve their grievances and look into other allegations of irregularities in the city polls. If it cannot take any substantive action against these small-scale incidents, what will it do when the national elections are held in all 300 constituencies, with one million voters voting in a single day? We expect that the EC will do its best as it is empowered under Article 119 of the constitution. It should be noted that the world – those who matter – will be watching how the EC delivers its constitutional obligations.

(As narrated to Naznin Tithi.)

Brig Gen (retd) Dr M Sakhawat Hussain, former election commissioner of Bangladesh, is senior fellow at the South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG), North South University (NSU).