An experience with Bangladeshi polls
By Indra Adhikari in Dhaka
Transition of Bangladesh from military backed regime to a democratic one has been cheered by many but it also surprised many due to the sudden change in the way people voted. It is a disaster for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) but an unexpected victory for Awami League (AL). In this election, the people of Bangladesh have said this loud and clear that they want democracy.
As usual in other countries, the international observers termed the polls free and fair, in the middle of minor irregularities and complaints from the losing parties. Despite the fact that Bangladesh witnessed bloodshed in the last few months, generally peaceful polling across the country inspired foreign observers to a belief that peaceful transition to democracy is possible, unlike what was witnessed in Nepal.
Bangladeshis have spoken that democracy is not for extremists. The Jamaat E-Islam, whose politics is based religion, has been reduced to 2 seats from 17 in 2001 election. Not only that, people wiped out those who failed to maintain their accountability and transparency while in power. Nepali extremists and the parties in the government has sometime to learn from this verdict.
Enthusiasm shown by the Bangladeshi in this election was also inspiring. In a country with less than 47 percent literacy rate, 88 percent turnout is almost beyond expectation. And interestingly, it is the female voters, exceeding male voters by thousands, who came up for the change. Literally, it is to mean, females in a closed Islamic society of Bangladesh had their say in public life, public affairs. The two-year long military rule and the panic from political chaos should have compelled the people to vote for change. This is one indication towards a path to strengthening democracy. Local newspaper The Daily Star, praising the people's participation in the process rightly said in its December 31 editorial: “enthusiastic and spontaneous exercise of the right of franchise is a high-water mark of and a point of pride for democracy anywhere in the world”.
Bangladesh lacks enough voter education, especially among women. Still, women participation to in the polls was amazing and inspiring. Rural women are not only illiterate and ignorant but also lack knowledge about the voting process. Yet, what they know is that it is their right to vote. And in years, as all expect the growth of women literacy rate here, it looks obvious that they will be most the strongest deciding factors of Bangladeshi politics.
Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), European Union Election Observation Mission (EUEOM), International Research Institute (IRI), National Democratic Institute (NDI) and other international observation teams described the election as being free and fair, adding the winners must work to meet the commitments made to the people and the losers accept the verdict of the people, to strengthen the democratic practice and culture.
Together, the local dailies came out with questions over the substantiality of the allegations of fraud in the election by Begam Khalida Zia.
ANFREL in its preliminary post-election statement said Bangladesh for the ninth Jatiya Sangsad (parliament of Bangladesh) a step moving towards a new era of democracy and development.
Absence of victory rallies around the country when the final results came out substantially proved the winning parties have realised there is more need to be serious towards public sentiments than to raise the victory flags. This means, the winners own the burdens of meeting the aspirations of the people, not just making promises which has been the culture of South Asia.
This poll is an indication, as most countries in this region move towards democratic practices – Bhutan and Maldives especially– that democracy is the best answer to the political-economic problems.
All wishes for a democratic Bangladesh!
nepalnews.com Jan 01 08
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