The New Nation - Internet Edition

Hasnat Abdul Hye

Democracy in Bangladesh has been restored, after a hiatus of two years. During the interregnum, democracy was not a taboo word, though politics, its handmaiden, was kept in suspended animation. The power that be declared from the outset that it was committed to holding election within two years. But it was also made clear that democracy, beleaguered by politics of violence and kleptocracy or cronyism, would not be welcome. What the caretaker government wanted to see was politics free from all kinds of abuse of power. A raft of reform measures were underway to usher in a kind of politics that the CTG thought was in the best tradition of democracy.

Soon the contradiction between successful completion of reforms to cleanse politics of insidious malaise from which it suffered chronically earlier and the restoration of democracy became apparent. The caretaker government realised that the timeline set for holding election was not sufficiently long to carry out the reforms, particularly involving politics and politicians, though this was not aired publicly. Speculation became rife, as the election deadline approached, whether the caretaker government would extend the two-year period set by it in order to complete the major reform measures. Uncertainty over holding election gained credence when the chiefs of the two major parties were taken into custody on charges of corruption. Quite a few leaders belonging to the two parties were already facing trial in courts or had been convicted. In these circumstances, restoration of politics and re-introduction of democracy appeared to have receded to the background. Even when the government reiterated its commitment to hold election within the scheduled date the announcements were taken with a gain of salt. As the Election Commission embarked upon a detailed process of registering parties the suspense over whether election would be held on time was heightened.

At the end, however, the caretaker government made good on its promise on election. Whether it was due to their own violation or under pressure from extraneous sources can only be guessed. The visits of high profile foreign dignitaries and to-ing and fro-ing of Dhaka-based, foreign ambassadors gave some inkling in to what might have been going on behind the scene. Be that as it may, election has been held within the timeline of two years, though deviations were made from the 'road map' announced earlier.

The election held was a milestone in many respects. For the first time all parties had to be registered in order to be eligible. The candidates had to fulfil many conditions to qualify for participation in the election. The tight grip of the Election Commission was however prised open by candidates on several counts, armed with court orders. Finally, the total number of candidates stood at 1555 and the number of eligible parties at 38. The number of independent candidates was 148. The candidates vied for the support of 8,10,58,698 voters out of whom more than 80 percent have reportedly cast their votes, a record in recent times. Deployment of 6 lakh of law enforcers, including army, facilitated the holding of election smoothly and very few untoward incident were reported. Judged by all measures, the last election will be considered as a landmark in our political history.

Weeding out false voters earlier and arrangement for supervision and vigilance ensured that the election was free, fair and impartial. A large number of election observers, including foreigners, testified to the fairness of the manner and the procedure in which the election has been held. The BNP chairperson however has alleged of malpractice in 111 polling centres in 39 constituencies. In the backdrop of elaborate arrangements made by the Election Commission and in view of the opinion of independent observers, the allegation has to be taken with a grain of salt. But since objections have been raised, the allegations when formally made should be looked into in all seriousness preferably to-gether with observers from the UN and the EU. One can cynically dismiss such allegations as being routine for a party that loses but for the election to be credible the allegation should not be taken lightly. Democracy is both a process and product. All political parties must have faith in the former in order to ensure the latter.

Election is a necessary step towards establishment of democracy but it alone cannot bring about efflorescence of democracy. To be acceptable to all and have legitimacy it must be seen to have been held in a free, fair and impartial manner. If the election results are not accepted by a major party or alliance there will be no political stability and in the absence of political stability democracy will founder, as it has done several times in the past. Therefore, to secure the return of democracy, the opposition has to be convinced about the fairness and accuracy of the results. This is the first condition for the functioning of democracy.

The second condition for a robust democratic culture is the complementary roles of the parties in power and in the opposition. In the affairs of the state and in governance both have important contributions to make. The party in power forming government can ignore the opposition party but such exclusion will be at the cost of good governance and democratic principles. In the 2008 general election the opposition, particularly 4-party alliance, has got only 32 seats as against 'Mohajotes' 262. Such an overwhelming majority may tempt the Mohajote to sideline the opposition after forming the government. Such marginalisation would lead to an ineffective parliament and provoke the opposition to adopt negative attitude leading to non-cooperation, both non-violent and violent. It this happens democracy will be in jeopardy and in the worst case scenario, even the election results may come to naught.

In a demonstration of rare statesmanship, the leader of the Mohajote, the Awami League Chief has called for co-operation from the opposition. She had already promised that if elected the post of Deputy Speaker would be given to the opposition. Now she has proposed to have even minister(s) from the opposition in the cabinet. She has also asked her supporters to desist from victimising the workers and leaders of the opposition parties in the wake of the election results. These are laudable gestures and very timely. The attitude of the Mohajote leader augurs well for the future of democracy in the country. On their part, the opposition should accept the election results with equanimity and co-operate with the majority party in running the government. It should be realised that democracy cannot survive, not to speak of thriving, if there is no mutual accommodation and trust between the two major parties. Democracy has suffered for long in the absence of such co-operation and mutual respect. A repetition of the same will have egregious effect on democracy. Needless to say, if democracy suffers so will the politicians.