Editorial
Challenges before the EC
A more concrete action plan needed
The Chief Adviser has reiterated his government's determination to hand over power to an elected government as early as possible. Once again, we welcome his statement and hope that he and his team will reach the goal they have set for themselves. Meanwhile, we also note that the Election Commission has been speaking of exploring alternative ways of working on the issues before it, should the ban on indoor politics not be lifted any time soon. There are, as we can see, two sets of challenges before the Election Commission. The first of these relates to what it eventually plans to do about a voter list. With nearly five months having elapsed since the imposition of the state of emergency, the EC has remained in a straitjacket regarding its course of action. Despite talk of an updated voter list, a fresh voter list with photographs attached, national identity cards, et al, a strong element of indecision has seemed to characterise the EC's approach to the issue. Not even the suggestion from the army that it can help in the preparation of a photograph-attached voter list (the suggestion was made in February) has met with any response so far. In other words, the signals that have been coming from the EC have been mixed or confusing or both. Till today, despite their expectations of the forthcoming elections being conducted on the basis of a credible voter list, the people of the country quite do not know how many lists the EC has been mulling over in its polls-centred programme. For such reasons, the EC must now address the issue publicly and make its position unequivocally clear. The second set of challenges before the EC centers on the question of political party reforms. The current ban on indoor politics, as the commission argues, has kept it from pursuing its aims in this regard. The government seems reluctant to lift the ban on indoor politics any time soon. That, however, does not appear to have stopped some individuals from coming together to exchange views on the formation of a new political group or platform in the full public gaze. One cannot dismiss general concerns about such individuals, drawn largely from the BNP, LDP and JP, being free to talk politics inside hotel lobbies while at the same time the established political parties are prevented from doing the same. We at the Daily Star believe that uniform rules must be applied here. Unless that is done, there will be all the signs of double standards being at play, even if they are resorted to unwittingly. For the government, it becomes important that no discrimination be shown in handling the indoor politics issue. Unless a level playing field is ensured for everyone, there is a good chance that politics will get into more of a bind than it is in already. Obviously, it will be the reforms agenda that will get sidelined if the priorities get mixed up.
|
|
