No Distant Island

In the sea of corrupt
No distant island of hope.
EC faces criticism abrupt
While vested group tightens the rope.

A discord between two commissioners brought to fore different views within the election commission about the way municipal elections were held. A commissioner noted for making critical and media-grabbing remarks bluntly said that recent municipal elections could be aptly called "model of electoral irregularities". He set forth the Raujan municipal election of Chattogram as example. In that uncontested election on 28 February, 1 mayor and 12 counselors got elected. (Source: Daily Prothom Alo, page1, March 03,2021)

Ongoing municipal elections are being held in five stages. First stage took place on December 28, 2020. Second stage held on January 16 and third stage took place on January 30, 2021. Second stage elections were relatively more violent, taking 3 lives. Fatalities were mostly due to factional clashes. In the first two stages, Awami League and its rebel candidates won 72 municipalities out of 84 municipalities. Meanwhile, BNP and its rebel candidates won 8 (Source: Daily Prothom Alo, January 18,2021).

Fourth and fifth stages of election took place on 14 February and 28 February respectively. One person was killed in the fourth stage of election. In the fifth stage, Awami candidates won 28 municipalities, BNP secured 1 and independent candidates got 2 (Source: Daily Prothom Alo, March 01,2021). Election observers and the press alike observed violations and irregularities. But electronic voting machine (EVM) stole the show. It was also the topic of disagreement between two commissioners on the National Voter Day event. It is indeed interesting to note that before the 2018 general election an Army-run subsidiary bagged Tk 40 billion contract to supply EVM to election commission. Votes of fifth stage elections were cast through EVM. A news report says in the second stage votes cast through ballot paper(68.15%) were 11 % higher than votes cast through EVM(57.34%) (Source: Daily Prothom Alo, January 25,2021).

As mentioned earlier, in second stage independent candidates won 8 municipalities of which votes were cast through EVM in 4 municipalities. Meanwhile, among BNP-won 4 municipalities, votes were cast through EVM only in 1. In the fifth stage, votes were cast through EVM, BNP only bagged 1 municipality while independent candidates secured victory in 2 municipalities.

Rebellious commissioner also voiced his support for EVM highlighting its success in reducing incident of 100% vote cast and incident of ballot-paper-filled box before the election day. A common irregularity on election day in this part of the world.

In some municipality, ruling party candidates even threatened local administration and police if election results would not turn to candidate's favor. In Companyganj of Noakhali several police personnel applied to superiors for immediate transfer in other parts of Bangladesh. Even on election day a journalist was shot dead in Noakhali by the supporters of a candidate who is also brother of ruling party general secretary.

Despite the lower number of death, recent municipal elections are marred with pre election violence, coercing voters by the candidates, proxy casting of votes, true voters' inability to cast votes , factional clash and biased enforcement of law and order. The press is imbued with reports of such incident.

But it is great to take notice that an atmosphere of festivity prevailed throughout the campaign. Despite the chaos and troubles, the recent municipal elections show how the people attach great importance to local level election. It is a mean to have a say on local level decision making and development. Empowering such local level institution and ensuring their transparent functioning could only perfect our democratic practices at the grass root level and strengthen our democratic values. However, chaotic and troubled local elections often set the path for undemocratic forces to stop holding regular election. There may be chaos, there may be skirmishes, but these should not be pretext for barring people to exercise their rights, participation in decision making process. Chaotic but frequent and regular elections at all levels are good for democracy and emboldening people to believe in democracy.

So decentralization, in fact more of it, of centralized power currently we have now in Bangladesh, could play a critical role in strengthening democracy, which has been categorized as "partly free" by Freedom House. I have long been arguing for a federal structure where Bangladesh is divided into three or four provinces and elected federal government is supported by its own administration and budget. Local development issues and accountability will get more focus in such federal structure.

Election Commission depends a lot on the government to hold a free and fair election in spite of the fact that it is an independent body. Differences in opinion among commissioners within EC show the commission acknowledges its shortcomings and weaknesses. Functioning of democracy requires collective effort and commitment, but attributing the blame of not holding a free election to a single commission is not only unjust but also not rooted in reality. In the past , we have seen Election Commission and chief election commissioner were subject of unreasonable criticism. When the whole country is immersed in unlawful and corrupt practices, the commission, it is naïve to assume, could hardly remain a distant island free and immune from the vices invading the mainland.Even if there are saints in EC, they could not act freely as long as the institutions on which the EC depends are not transparent and accountable. Therefore, restraint should be exercised in criticizing the role of EC and commissioners while holding an election.