EC gears up for next general elections, but thorny issues remain

The Election Commission (EC) in September last year identified some major tasks on its roadmap for holding a free, fair and a participatory election, with the earning of confidence of all political parties being on top of the list.    

One year down the line, the commission itself admits that the EC is going through "a crisis" and a "challenging" situation.

On 13 September, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said, "We are in a challenging situation, dealing with various crises. We have consistently called for dialogues. Unfortunately, the prevailing political climate has made it difficult for parties to engage in meaningful discussions with each other. The commission alone cannot resolve this problem."

The EC, in its roadmap, released a year ago, identified 14 challenges and outlined an action plan that includes 19 measures to tackle these issues for holding a free, fair and a participatory election.

The challenges include building trust, ensuring neutrality of the local administration, gaining confidence for electronic voting machines, checking the use of black money and muscles in polls, and maintaining law and order during the election.

Other challenges noted in the roadmap include ensuring all political parties follow the electoral code of conduct and they do not face any obstacle from their rivals, local administration or police during electioneering.

However, the EC acknowledged that it has accomplished most of the tasks outlined in the roadmap in time, but has been struggling to gain the confidence of all political parties.

The EC has already amended law, completed registration of parties, held dialogues with the parties and prominent citizens, completed observer registration, rearranged parliamentary seats, finalised the voter list, prepared the polling centres and published the list. 

Currently, the commission is doing the purchase of election materials and training the polling officials. 

EC Secretary Md Jahangir Alam said, "We are ahead in completing all the tasks outlined in the roadmap. Except for one party, we have gained the confidence of all."

The EC failed to bring the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allied parties to the negotiating table, despite sending two rounds of invitation letters.

According to experts, the actions taken by the EC are routine tasks and may not contribute significantly to alleviating political unrest.

"If the EC claims it has gained the confidence of all parties except one and that one party holds 35%-40% of the vote – then gaining their confidence is crucial," former Election Commissioner Brigadier General (Retired) M Sakhawat Hossain told The Business Standard.

He added, "So far, the tasks they are performing according to the roadmap are just routine duties of an Election Commission. While they have mentioned the challenges of holding a free, fair, and participatory election, they have not provided a clear plan for addressing these challenges and the prevailing political unrest."

"Consequently, there remains uncertainty about the prospects of a participatory election. I do not see any preparation by the EC or any indications on the roadmap for a way out. Identifying challenges is one thing, but the roadmap does not offer insight into how those challenges will be met."

Sakhawat Hossain further said merely engaging in dialogues is insufficient and concrete actions are required to build confidence. They must think innovatively because they are tasked with conducting an election at a time when the legitimacy of the previous two elections has been questioned as well as parties and voters lack confidence in the electoral process."

He also said ensuring the impartiality of officials, administration, and law enforcers deployed during the election largely depends on the government.

Political conflicts have raised doubts about the participation of the BNP and its allies in the upcoming elections, as they refuse to take part in the vote under the current Awami League government and demand that the election be held under a neutral caretaker government.

However, to address this issue, the EC has chosen not to engage with political parties. Instead, it is proceeding with election preparations according to its action plan.

Election Commissioner Md Alamgir said, "National elections are scheduled for the last week of December this year or the first week of January next year. We are diligently following the roadmap for the parliamentary elections. However, there are no plans for meetings with political parties at this time."

When asked about the potential non-participation of a major opposition party like the BNP, he said, "These issues are beyond our jurisdiction. We are operating in accordance with the constitution. This is a political matter, and political parties will need to address it. The constitution does not grant the EC authority to intervene in such matters or act outside its constitutional framework."

Other challenges

The EC roadmap also talks about checking vote fraud, ensuring a smooth and free ballot casting, training of poll related staff and officials, deploying adequate law enforcers and magistrates, and allowing enough local and foreign poll observers.

To deal with the challenges, the EC listed measures such as implementing recommendations put forward by stakeholders, proposing the government for ensuring a smooth electioneering for all, stop filing cases meant for harassment by government agencies and protecting candidates and their property from rival attacks.

The EC's to-do list also talks about seizing illegal arms, instructing local administration and law enforcers to maintain neutrality, installing closed circuit cameras at all voting centres, limiting EVMs use only in metropolitan and district level centres, and legal action against poll staff in case of partiality.

Besides these, there are some other tasks the EC has already done, including amendment of laws, party registration, dialogues with various political parties, prominent citizens, and observer registration.

Controversies remain

Despite the EC's progress in implementing its action plan, various controversies and criticisms have arisen widely.

Amendment of the Representation of the People Order (RPO) was one of the controversial moves of the EC. Experts and critics have criticised the EC, accusing it of reducing its own authority by amending the law.

Under this amendment, the EC no longer possesses the ability to suspend or cancel the entire results of any seat once the returning officer declares the results. Instead, it can only suspend the results at one or more polling stations where irregularities have been reported. This represents a substantial limitation compared to the EC's previous authority, which allowed it to halt voting at any stage in the event of irregularities.

Additionally, controversy has erupted surrounding the registration of new political parties, such as the Bangladesh Nationalist Movement (BNM) and the Bangladesh Supreme Party (BSP), as other political parties have raised doubts about the EC's intentions.

Even the dialogues, organised to mitigate controversy, have themselves become contentious. Participants have alleged that the EC failed to effectively implement the recommendations emerging from these discussions.

Furthermore, among the 66 organisations registered by the EC as observers, there are allegations that some of them exist only in name and are aligned with specific parties. Some organisations lack operational capacity and adequate manpower, raising questions about their ability to observe elections impartially.

The EC has also opted to withdraw from implementing several elements of the action plan.

It has abandoned plans for monitoring polling stations with closed-circuit (CC) cameras and utilising Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the polls.

EC Alamgir said that deploying CC cameras in 300 constituencies for the national elections is not feasible due to the absence of an organisation capable of providing the necessary number of CC cameras. Additionally, the logistical challenge of simultaneously monitoring so many cameras presents a significant hurdle.

Meanwhile, the EC decided to move away from the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) due to its inability to secure the required budget for the EVM procurement project.