AL aims for a ‘tough’ 50pc turnout

The Awami League will be fully focused on turnout as the nation heads to the polls today.
A high number of voters will help legitimise the 12th national election, AL leaders believe. They think a good turnout would be a befitting reply to the BNP and like-minded parties who are boycotting the polls and urging voters not to vote.
Turnout has been on the AL's mind all along and the party allowed its leaders to run against its nominees in the polls to improve the number of people showing up to vote.
The AL is hoping for an ambitious turnout of around 50 percent, a figure the party believes would be enough to make the election appear participatory and acceptable to the international community. Many of its leaders think 50 percent will be hard to achieve.
In the ninth national polls in 2008, over 87 percent of the voters voted. In the 2014 polls, which many parties boycotted, 40 percent voted.
The last election, which the BNP-led Jatiya Oikya Front joined, had over 80 percent turnout.
Speaking to The Daily Star, a central committee member of the AL said around 1.27 crore voters are abroad, which is 10 percent of all the voters. Another 15 percent have migrated internally, the leader said, adding that if all voters living in a constituency voted, the turnout would be around 75 percent.
"So, ensuring around 50 percent turnout will be very tough," the committee member said wishing anonymity.
The AL believes that in constituencies where AL nominees are neck and neck in their races against the "AL independents", the number of voters showing up would be high. In the constituencies where the party nominees are set to have an easy run, the turnout would be comparatively low.
The party expects tight races in around 150 constituencies.
AL nominees, however, do not want to see too many voters on election day as they believe that a low turnout will mean the base AL voters have shown up to vote for "boat".
On the other hand, the AL independents are banking on a higher number of voters, which they believe would mean people with anti-incumbency sentiment and people deprived by the AL have shown up to vote. And they think these people would not vote for the party nominees.
Party high-ups who want to see a high turnout are worried about the election-day environment. They think any untoward incident would encourage voters to stay home.
The AL believes the party base accounts for 35 to 40 percent of the votes and has asked the grassroots to ensure the base votes today.
The party has already formed centre-wise committees comprising around 50 members. They have been asked to be completely focused on getting voters to the polling stations.
The committee members will cast their votes first, then bring their family members, relatives and neighbours to the polling centres, said the AL insiders.
The members have also been asked to ensure that around 3 to 3.35 crore voters who enjoy benefits from the government's safety net programmes show up.
The AL will be relying on around 15 million first-time voters and 10 million young voters for a good show.
The grassroots, especially ward-level and union-level leaders, have been asked to take voters to polling centres.
Law enforcers have been asked to ensure a peaceful voting environment and the AL's centre-wise committee members would also be at the polling stations to prevent any unwanted situation, party insiders said.
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