Has the time come for Bangladesh to embrace PR? 

Around 30 political parties are currently grappling with key constitutional reform proposals in Dhaka, in consultations hosted by the National Consensus Commission set up by the head of Bangladesh's interim government, Muhammad Yunus.

Judging by the trouble they appear to be having in reaching 'consensus' over some key elements proposed by the Constitution Reforms Commission, the word 'grappling' is probably an understatement.

But while they debate proposals ranging from changes to state principles to the formation of a new upper chamber of parliament, another old issue has reared its head outside the consultation room. The topic in contention is the use of proportional representation, or PR, in the next parliamentary elections.

A group of Islamist parties, notably the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Islami Andolon, along with their ally, the student-led National Citizen Party (NCP), have floated a demand to hold the next elections under the PR system. The demand, made at a rally held in Dhaka on 29 June, drew a sharp rebuke from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which fears such demands are an attempt to delay the elections.

The subject of PR has often been raised in the past as a way to reduce or even eliminate single-party dominance of parliaments. Some have even suggested that PR might be a way to cut through the two-party system that has entrenched itself in Bangladeshi politics since 1991. But the debates never really took off.

The reforms process initiated after the fall of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government on 5 August last year provided a window of opportunity where PR could come into serious consideration.

The Constitution Reforms Commission took a tentative step forward by suggesting that a new upper chamber could be formed through an 'indirect' PR approach. This was a rather moderate proposal, which could have initiated the evolution of a PR system but without ruffling too many feathers at this delicate stage. They, however, steered clear of any proposal to make the next elections to the existing Jatiya Sangsad subject to a PR system.

The country's largest active political party, the BNP, is clearly averse to the very idea of PR – even for an upper chamber, and most definitely for the much more powerful lower chamber.

It remains to be seen how much trouble the new demand for PR in elections may cause. But there seems to be a reason why PR is being thrust to the forefront of electoral issues now, rather than a few months earlier.

The leader of left-leaning platform Nagorik Oikko, Mahmudur Rahman Manna, has recently said they did not want PR earlier because they felt the Awami League could be taking part in a 'participatory' election. Manna said, in an interview published by *Daily Jugantor*'s YouTube channel on 30 June, that the AL would likely become the main opposition party under a PR system (he is clearly assuming, like everyone else, that the BNP would win).

"Awami League is a huge organisation. Their vote share was at least 35 per cent, which has probably reduced now to 30 or 25 per cent. The rest of us put together could not match that," Manna said. "Now Awami League is not there, and we want the elections under proportional representation."

So the newfound love for PR is not a principled stance but a response to the shifting ground realities of Bangladeshi politics. With Awami League barred from taking part in the polls, the current first-past-the-post system would make the BNP look like an elephant in the jungle, trampling everyone else underfoot (except Jamaat-e-Islami, which has its own vote bank).

With the AL – and potentially the Jatiya Party of former president Hussain Muhammad Ershad – denied the right to participate, the PR system could, theoretically, allow the NCP, its Islamist allies, and tiny secular groups like Manna's Nagorik Oikko to pick up enough votes to gain seats in parliament. In the current first-past-the-post (FPTP) system, most of these small parties would get nothing on their own.

But on a matter of principle, the argument for PR rests on the evidence of the past 54 years since Bangladesh became an independent nation. During this period, the country went through 12 parliamentary elections, but only four of those could be described as free and fair.

The last two elections described as "free and fair" produced mega majorities for one party each – for the BNP in 2001, and the Awami League in 2008. But the win margins in both cases, in terms of seats, were woefully disproportionate to the votes they received.

For instance, in 2001 the BNP polled 40.91 per cent share of the vote, but won 193, or nearly 65 per cent, of the 300 seats on offer. The Awami League polled 40.13 per cent.

Sabir Mustafa is a Bangladeshi journalist, Former Managing Editor at VoA Bangla, Washington, DC. He also headed the BBC's Bengali service from June 2001 to March 2023.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard