The first phase of the upazila parishad election has played out as it was predicted: with few voters and fewer upsets. In scenes reminiscent of the national election held on January 7, most of the voting centres across 139 upazilas wore a deserted look on Wednesday, while polling officials and law enforcers were seen passing idle time. Apparently, only 36 percent of voters have cast their vote—the lowest upazila turnout since the start of Awami League's reign in 2009. More predictably still, most of the winners, as per early estimates, were Awami League-affiliated candidates; almost all the relatives of ruling party MPs who contested the poll disregarding party high command's directives have won as well.

A comparison between the national election and this one in one-third of the upazilas, coming in just four months' time, is unavoidable. Whether it is poor voter turnout, or the absence of credible options, or the predictable outcomes, all appear to support the agenda of a "peaceful" extension of power while putting off disaffected masses. The transition from disenchantment to disenfranchisement is a subtle one, but that voters without credible options are hardly more than glorified dummies were not lost on most voters. To be clear, Awami League did want to avoid the stigma of overseeing another one-sided election amid opposition boycotts; it did not give party symbols to any of its candidates so that the election becomes competitive. However, its leaders in each upazila are still competing as independents, mostly against each other.

The question is, how does an election rejected by most voters qualify as a democratic exercise? Is the relative absence of violence enough to justify it? Will those elected through this process feel beholden to the people? For the upazila parishad polls, which once drew enthusiastic voters, to lose steam like this is nothing but a tragedy. We may recall that the voter turnout in the 2009 upazila polls was 70.57 percent. In 2014, it was 61.23 percent. In 2019, it fell to just 40 percent. A further slide was expected this time, especially given the general perception about the futility of electoral exercises for both ordinary voters and opposition candidates.

We cannot but be worried about this state of affairs. The local elections, including city corporation polls, are where voters get to choose leaders that they can approach the most, people who live closest to them and know their realities better than anyone. The degeneration of this process is painful to see. One can only hope that the election authorities will do more to create an environment in which voters again feel empowered to participate.