Independent Election Commission
Saturday, 30 June 2007
A fair election commission(EC) is the prerequisite for a free and fair election. These incidents point to the fact that since 1991, results of all the national elections were rejected by the losing party alleging that those were rigged. The parliamentary election scheduled on January 22 last was resisted by the opposition political combine led by the Awami League. The argument of the opposition was that, if held, the election would be massively rigged.
One may still look further back into the past. In 1996, another such election was rejected in a similar manner. It was again another instance of opposition's total distrust of the party in power so far as its credibility for holding a free and fair election was concerned. Notwithstanding the failure of that infamous election, known as February 15 polls, the nation was presented with its by-product, the non-partisan caretaker government. The job of the caretaker government so conceived was to hold a free and fair election. As it was a constitutional authority to be formed upon expiry of the tenure of each elected government, it was expected that all the political parties in the fray would accept the elections conducted by the EC with its support.
Far from that. The old mind-set of rejecting the election results by the parties losing in the polls remained unchanged. The caretaker government, too, became suspect in the eye of the parties out of power. The political spectrum of the country was completely polarised on the issue of election scheduled on January 22. The alliance representing the immediate past government led by BNP and the opposition led by Awami League were on a collision course over the election supposed to be conducted by the immediate past caretaker government. The political impasse came to such a pass that the nation was on the verge of a virtual civil war. The changeover of January 11 was the direct outcome of that grave national crisis.
As expected, the first task of the post-January 11 caretaker government was to recast the EC, bring in necessary reforms in the electoral laws and the code of conduct. The reconstituted EC has meanwhile held dialogues with distinguished citizens, senior journalists and members of the civil society, who had recommended that the EC Secretariat be made independent for the sake of holding a free, fair and transparent election. As noted in the foregoing, the election under the political party in power was suspect because the opposition had no trust in the neutrality of the constitutional body. In fact, an EC secretariat under the dictates of the prime minister's office had little scope for demonstrating its neutrality. Arguably, even in the present context, the commission's secretariat remains under the control of the Chief Adviser's office.
Against this backdrop, the incumbent caretaker government has taken a decision to free the EC secretariat, which had so far being operated under the tutelage of the prime minister's or chief adviser's office, from the latter's control. The decision is undoubtedly a big leap forward towards the creation of an independent EC. As has been discussed in the foregoing, the bone of contention in politics since inception of Bangladesh turned on the suspicion of the opposition about the EC's capacity for holding a fair and credible election. To be frank, it is really hard for an EC, which is beholden to the party or parties in power for its fund and other logistics, to exercise its will properly and present the nation with a credible election. Now that the incumbent caretaker government has decided to make the statutory body completely independent, it is hoped that, once that decision is implemented, the political parties will have no complaint about future elections to be conducted by the independent EC.
One may still look further back into the past. In 1996, another such election was rejected in a similar manner. It was again another instance of opposition's total distrust of the party in power so far as its credibility for holding a free and fair election was concerned. Notwithstanding the failure of that infamous election, known as February 15 polls, the nation was presented with its by-product, the non-partisan caretaker government. The job of the caretaker government so conceived was to hold a free and fair election. As it was a constitutional authority to be formed upon expiry of the tenure of each elected government, it was expected that all the political parties in the fray would accept the elections conducted by the EC with its support.
Far from that. The old mind-set of rejecting the election results by the parties losing in the polls remained unchanged. The caretaker government, too, became suspect in the eye of the parties out of power. The political spectrum of the country was completely polarised on the issue of election scheduled on January 22. The alliance representing the immediate past government led by BNP and the opposition led by Awami League were on a collision course over the election supposed to be conducted by the immediate past caretaker government. The political impasse came to such a pass that the nation was on the verge of a virtual civil war. The changeover of January 11 was the direct outcome of that grave national crisis.
As expected, the first task of the post-January 11 caretaker government was to recast the EC, bring in necessary reforms in the electoral laws and the code of conduct. The reconstituted EC has meanwhile held dialogues with distinguished citizens, senior journalists and members of the civil society, who had recommended that the EC Secretariat be made independent for the sake of holding a free, fair and transparent election. As noted in the foregoing, the election under the political party in power was suspect because the opposition had no trust in the neutrality of the constitutional body. In fact, an EC secretariat under the dictates of the prime minister's office had little scope for demonstrating its neutrality. Arguably, even in the present context, the commission's secretariat remains under the control of the Chief Adviser's office.
Against this backdrop, the incumbent caretaker government has taken a decision to free the EC secretariat, which had so far being operated under the tutelage of the prime minister's or chief adviser's office, from the latter's control. The decision is undoubtedly a big leap forward towards the creation of an independent EC. As has been discussed in the foregoing, the bone of contention in politics since inception of Bangladesh turned on the suspicion of the opposition about the EC's capacity for holding a fair and credible election. To be frank, it is really hard for an EC, which is beholden to the party or parties in power for its fund and other logistics, to exercise its will properly and present the nation with a credible election. Now that the incumbent caretaker government has decided to make the statutory body completely independent, it is hoped that, once that decision is implemented, the political parties will have no complaint about future elections to be conducted by the independent EC.