Democratic exercises within political parties are a must to ensure political good will and educate voters for making elections meaningful in Bangladesh.
It is also vital to do major reforms in election and government systems, including bicameralism, setting a minimum percentage of ballots cast and barring dual-citizenship holders to contest in polls. The digitalisation of the election system is also required.
The observations were made at a roundtable on the electoral reform hosted by the Citizens for Good Governance or Shusashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan) at the Daily Star Centre on Thursday.
Without creating an enabling voting system to form an acceptable government with a clear mandate, according to speakers, the country would have to frequently struggle to restore democracy.
Former chief election commissioner Justice Mohammad Abdur Rouf, Dhaka University professor Robaet Ferdous, polling expert Jasmine Tully and Fair Election Monitoring Alliance president Munira Khan, among others, spoke.
Shujan secretary Dr Badiul Alam Majumder chaired the roundtable while central coordinator Dilip Kumar Sarkar presented a charter of proposals to bring in the much-needed reforms.
Addressing the event, Justice Rouf said Bangladesh must address political and polling issues by itself for a durable solution. "To other nations, Bangladesh is a big market for a huge population. They can't resolve its political problems."
He suggests scrapping the so-called 'nomination deal' so that influential persons cannot abuse political parties by spending a lump sum of money.
Shujan thinks people's expectations from the interim government cover major reforms of state systems, including the electoral system, according to Mr Majumder.
"A free and fair election should be held after state reforms, and state power be handed over to an elected government," he said.
The organisation proposes that two candidates from each party be selected to end the ignoble nomination trade.
A person interested in getting nomination should have been a member of that particular party for at least three years, it said.
The 'no vote' provision should be reintroduced to exclude candidates disliked by the electorate.
Apart from this, Shujan proposed amending several laws, including organising direct voting of candidates for reserved seats and reincorporating the army into the law-and-order force.
The think tank also presented a sample affidavit form at the roundtable.
IT expert and writer Fayez Ahmed Tayab underscored the need for digitalising the voting process in order to ensure transparency, commenting that a political decision is required regarding the use of electronic voting machine.
Senior journalist Abu Sayeed Khan said a numeric voting system or mixed system could be introduced in future.
"An acceptable election should have the provision of a minimum threshold of votes cast and a minimum percentage of votes a candidate must get.
According to Ms Tully, law cannot change everything rather developing educated and ethical mindset is a must. "Earlier, votes were acceptable despite no electoral code of conduct in the 1999 national election."
Senior journalist Sohrab Hossain and student movement coordinator Ariful Islam Adib also spoke at the programme.
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