An election that will not strengthen democracy
We condemn wholeheartedly the setting on fire of several compartments of the Benapole Express train in the run up to the election. As expected, blame for it has already been attributed, although we believe it deserves a thorough and independent investigation. Additionally, within the span of 16 hours until 10am on Saturday, 14 arson incidents were reported, which is extremely disturbing. These attacks likely being connected to the election, it is absolutely essential that we ask: what sort of an election are we going to have tomorrow?
Before answering that question, one must also ask: what are the basic requirements of an election? In any election, voters must get to choose from diverse policies being proposed by different parties. There must be discussions on the merits and demerits of the policies being presented. And the successes and failures of the ruling party and the opposition must be up for debate. The so-called election that we are having tomorrow lacks all of that. The ruling Awami League has shown no desire to give anyone a chance to discuss the effectiveness of its policies. In fact, anyone who has dared to criticise its actions and policies over the last five years—and indeed its last three terms—has been treated as a supporter of the opposition. And by clamping down on dissent, it has completely obliterated all possibility of legitimate debate.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. 
In a substantial number of constituencies, there are only one real candidate. The others are inconsequential. Which means that a vast number of the seats are already guaranteed for the ruling party. Many seats are being contested between AL-nominated candidates and AL candidates running as independent, which means there are no real options for the voters to choose from. By placing dummy candidates as contestants, the ruling party is only disenfranchising voters even more. The prime minister has very cleverly allowed this to happen to give the impression that there is a contest. But ultimately, this election does not meet any of the criteria required for a genuine one.
On the flipside, the BNP had been campaigning and appealing to voters to not vote, which we did not protest. However, to call a hartal on election day is simply unacceptable. Ruling party men, meanwhile, have been harassing, threatening and intimidating voters to cast their ballot to give the impression that this is a legitimate election. We strongly condemn both these actions. What we are witnessing is essentially an engineered intra-party contest. As such, it raises more questions than answers, and will only end up fracturing the political landscape and pushing us deeper into a quagmire in which the role of voters keeps eroding further and further.
Comments