BNP and allies lose ground boycotting election

Boycott of the 12th parliamentary election by the anti-government parties led by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) emerged a blunder, as the government could successfully hold the polls on January 7 last, defying all the obstacles, deadly violence, arson and sabotage allegedly committed by its arch rivals.

Within four days after the election, the winning party Awami League (AL) successfully formed the government retaining Sheikh Hasina as the Prime Minister in her fourth consecutive and the fifth term, making her the longest serving prime minister of the world.

Meanwhile the new government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has achieved recognition from all the Asian countries and assurances also from most critical western countries for working together for trade, investment and development in the coming days.
For over the last two years until October 28 last year, BNP organized political campaigns to press the government to hold election under a neutral government. But after the deadly violence allegedly spearheaded by unruly BNP activists during a massive rally on October 28, last, government cracked down on the party detaining some 11,000 leaders and activists across the country. Most of them were picked up for resorting to  violence on the day  and many other for cases filed against them for alleged involvement in series of violence they carried out in 2012 to 2015, when some 500 people were killed, properties worth billions of taka destroyed in the name of anti-government agitation.

Meanwhile the people of the country, defied a clarion call of BNP and its 15 tiny allies to come up on the streets against the government. Except some few attempts by relevant party activists, the people did not try to stop the elections by raiding polling centres in droves. However, a section of peace-loving neutral voters, and the supporters of anti-government parties responded their call by refraining from casting votes.

The election with lower participation of voters than expected, was peaceful in most poling centres, except reported irregularities in some polling centres under several constituencies. A total of 1,969 candidates, including 1,532 from 28 political parties including the ruling AL and 437 independents contested in the polls.

On the polling day the number of voters increased at the polling centres after the dense fog eased gradually after 10 am. The Election Commission (EC) tallied the votes cast after every two hours at 10 am, 12-noon, 2 pm and 4 pm at the close of voting when the figure rose to 40.80 per cent of some 119 million voters across the country.

BNP might have thought AL and other pro-government parties won be able to draw even 5 per cent of the voters. But AL chief Sheikh Hasina cleverly beat BNP in the strategy by floating independent candidates of her party to vie in the election along with the candidates formally nominated by the party with an aim to draw voters.

In response BNP ridiculed the new government as the outcome of a dummy election saying: "A government of the dummy, by the dummy, for the dummy." However, the ridiculing could not stop the government from taking the charges for the new term. As a result the failure of anti-election campaigns and the formation of the new government under Sheikh Hasina, her success in achieving recognitions from powerful regional and continental powers, put BNP and its allies to think about the future course.

The parties have seen that the decade-old strategy of street agitations, strikes, blockades, fire attacks, sabotage etc resorted since 2012 failed to yield any political results. Also the general mass did not participate in the recent campaigns defying the call to take to the street against the government. The parties should now analyse why the people do not participate or do not feel necessity to join in anti-government movements.

Analysts think despite various economic challenges, people nowadays are not keen to topple a government through violent agitations, rather they feel that the government should be toppled through ballots. So participation of parties in elections is essential to change the government through ballots under a powerful EC.  The incumbent EC has been far stronger than the past ECs after many rules have been changed or inserted to make it powerful which was evident in the latest election, in which many big guns lost candidature, punished, fined and warned. Compared to the present EC past ECs were helpless in executing electoral code of conduct.

Under the changed situation BNP and its allies had a chance to topple the incumbent AL government, or at least obtain so many seats to corner the government in parliamentary debates and check the government from autocratic behaviour. Through parliamentary role the parties could have attained popular support for their next course of actions.

As the AL won the election and formed the government on January 11, almost all the Ambassadors and the High Commissioners stationed in Dhaka, including those from the US, the UK and the European Union, who persuaded the government to hold free, fair and credible election congratulated the newly elected government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. They also attended the sworn in ceremony at the Presidential Palace Bangababhan.

According to the international and local poll-observer the election was largely peaceful and orderly except some alleged irregularities at certain polling centres across the country. The foreign observers after visiting dozens of polling centres certified that the election was fair and peaceful.

Meanwhile Russia and all the Asian countries including China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore Indonesia and the neighbours of Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan hailed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for winning the election.

However, immediately after the US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia criticised the election as illegitimate. US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, at a regular press conference in Washington said the election was not free and fair and all parties did not participate. The UK criticised what it described as "acts of intimidation and violence" during the election.

In the latest press briefing in Washing on January 18  Matthew Miller reiterated that Bangladesh election was not free and fair, but ruled out any perception of not recognizing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas fourth straight term. "No, no," he instantly replied when he was asked.

It seems that on the fairness of Bangladesh election the West and the East are clearly divided, but in terms of the recognition of the new government and working with it all the governments have shown keen interests, giving a clean chit to the new government headed by Sheikh Hasina. With this clean chit Bangladesh, may have achieved a kind of protection, as it won , be ostracized from democratic world and global arena of politics and trade.

Meanwhile compiling a study Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), on Wednesday joined the Western Chorus saying: "The election was neither participatory nor free due to the inflexible and opposing positions of the two major parties over the caretaker government issue…The outcome of the election is ominous for the future of democracy, democratic elections in Bangladesh."

However, the government has refuted the TIB study saying it one sided and incomplete and highly biased towards anti-government parties.

The anti-government parties led by BNP who threatened that no election would be accepted unless held under a non partisan caretaker government, became almost silent after the announcement of election results. They like in the past failed to raise any visible popular protest against the election and the formation of the government.

The anti-government parties should have staged peaceful demonstration across the country including the capital Dhaka against the formation of the government, if they at all believed that the election was unfair, and the new government was illegitimate.

The writer is Business Editor, The Daily Observer