For fair elections
Abu Mohammad, On e-mail
"Suppose elections are free and fair and those elected are racists, fascists and separatists,..........that is the dilemma", these haunting words are from the American diplomat Richard Hallbrooke about former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. But I feel those words are equally true about Bangladesh in 2006. Bangladesh is not former Yugoslavia but when it comes to hypes about free and fair elections, it is not unlike most places experimenting with democracy. Bangladesh has been holding relatively free and fair elections (by comparison of earlier elections) from early 1990s till date. And at present we are all concerned that changes in the functioning of the Election Commission might affect the outcome of the next parliamentary elections. The political parties in power are contending that the changes in Election Commission (EC) are not unprecedented against the allegations of the Opposition that this is an orchestrated move to rig the next elections with partisan collaborators at the EC. Whatever may be the truth behind these allegations and rebuttals, the point which had been suppressed is: the quality of candidates from political parties who will contest and some of them will be elected to the parliament to "represent" us. After return to democracy in Bangladesh in the 90s, we have watched the take-over of the parliament, by people with money and some with long lists of criminal and bank default cases. Fortunately for these elements, our courts are rather slow and convictions are rare, mostly in cases involving "political leaders" and the principle of criminal law does not preclude someone from participating in elections, merely because they were charged with criminal offences. And this would also be highly unfair too, with so many false prosecutions out of vendetta, political and otherwise, being lodged in this country with an unusually low rate of convictions. Whatever, may be the merits and demerits of the candidates, I would like to urge our great leaders heading the political parties to look at the candidates and not nominate someone who might bring embarrassment to the parties themselves and weaken processes of governance in Bangladesh in the future. Doing this takes courage and merely doing the convenient thing will not be able to prevent repetition of what has happened with party nominations in the era of democracy. This is also a test of political leadership in Bangladesh, which resulted in failure in the past. It takes a great leader to deliver what myself and many others are hoping for. I trust, our political leadership to be much better, than those who present themselves as the "alternative", but are full of contradictions. But am I being mindlessly optimistic when I beg for doing one right thing on which will hinge the future of Bangladesh in the years to come?
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