Parliamentary polls

Credibility in Question

With the government rejecting BNP’s demands and Awami League all set for a virtually one-sided election, the credibility of the parliamentary polls is very much in question

by Badiul Alam

Attempts to hold a credible election with the participation of all the major players are likely to be frustrated, although the stage had been set for a compromise with the major parties, BNP and Awami League in particular.

The formula of compromise was that the poll schedule would be changed and the new date of the polls would be December 28 and the upazila election would be held either at the end of the first week or in the third week of January 2009. The contentious issue about withdrawal of the state of emergency was near being resolved. The government side agreed to consider total withdrawal of the emergency before the polls and it also agreed to suspend the operation of Section 91(E) of the RPO (Representation of Peoples Order), which gave power to the Election Commission (EC) to cancel the nomination of any candidate upon any complaint against that contending candidate.

The cancellation of nomination papers is tantamount to capital punishment for any candidate, and can be done in the court of law. The EC has apparently upstaged the power of the court and this has been termed as unconstitutional by the major political parties. Awami League first raised objection to the provision of 91(E), but later found that this provision would not affect them and thus agreed to join the polls, keeping 90(E) intact.

Earlier on several occasions, Awami League made it clear that it would not participate in the national election under the state of emergency, but later its leaders seem to feel that the state of emergency would not harm them and eventually went ahead to complete all preparations to participate in the upcoming national election, with the state of emergency hanging above their heads. The Awami Leaguers justified their stand by saying that they had past experience of contesting in elections under martial law and under the LFO (legal frame order).

BNP, on the other hand, did not feel comfortable with the state of emergency and also with the 91 (E) provision of the RPO. BNP considers the whole state machinery has been working against them and that the 91(E) provision of the RPO would be applied against them without any hesitation.

The apprehensions of BNP were hardly unfounded. After sending former finance minister Saifur Rahman, Jamaat chief Moulana Matiur Rahman Nizami and Jamaat Secretary General Ali Ahsan Al Mujahidi to jail because of their alleged involvement in Barapukuria coal mine irregularities, both BNP and Jamaat declared protest programmes. In an instant reaction, Jamaat workers bought out a procession from the north gate of Baitul Mukarram national mosque. Their procession came under police attack and Jamaat workers retaliated to the police’s baton charge by throwing brickbats. As a consequence of this particular street battle, the Home Ministry used the powers of the state of emergency to impose a ban on all political activities till November 27.

The EC allegedly had been involved in creating a rift within BNP by officially recognising a BNP committee which had emerged from a “coup” of October 29 2007. The EC could not prove itself a neutral body. On the contrary, most of its actions prove that it has a partisan outlook. Under these circumstances, BNP can’t feel safe by keeping if the EC has these special powers. So they strongly came out about the withdrawal of the state of emergency and repeal of the provision of 91(E) of the RPO.

The government earlier had no intention to listen to BNP, but later on it came under pressure from various quarters to bring the BNP and the 4-party alliance to the election. Accordingly, the government activated its machinery to reach an understanding with BNP, but only after it received a 48-hour ultimatum from BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia on Monday evening.

The five-member advisory committee led by Commerce Adviser Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman held parleys with BNP and the leaders of the ‘grand alliance’ led by the Awami League. Emerging from both the meetings, Hossain Zillur expressed his optimism about finding a solution to the deadlock. Awami League had raised objections about the shifting of the poll date beyond December and it made it clear that the election must be held within December, although publicly it insisted on the December 18 poll date.

Sources from the negotiating team said that as part of the agreement, EC had agreed to shift the poll date to December 28 and last date of filing the nomination papers to November 27. The government also agreed to suspend the operation of the 91 (E) of the RPO. They also agreed to lift the emergency from the date of withdrawal of nomination papers. BNP’s demand was that the emergency should be withdrawn before the filing of the nomination papers. Still, BNP could not have minded the announcement for the withdrawal of the state of emergency. This would be a political victory for them.

Everything had been going on track till noon of Wednesday. From the afternoon of Wednesday, the situation veered in the opposite direction. Things came to a head at three in the afternoon of Wednesday when an important meeting was held at the Chief Advisor’s office. Except changing the poll date, the government backed out of its earlier position regarding the withdrawal of the emergency and the suspension of the operation of the provision of 91(E) of the RPO.

In the meantime, Awami League also changed its stance. On Tuesday evening, the Awami League spokesman said that the party wanted the election within December. This was an indication of accepting the new poll date of December 28. But on Wednesday evening Awami League stated that they would not accept any shift of poll date from December 28, which gave the administration the excuse to point to the “failure of understanding among the political parties” to change their stance.

After the government announced that the polls would be held according to the old schedule, all doors were shut to a credible and participatory election, which was the basic spirit of 1/11.