Academics, rights activists and lawyers said on Tuesday that the ruling Awami League had taken all-out preparations to hold another one-sided general election on January 7, pushing all opposition parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, into the corner by using state machinery.
The ongoing political situation did not represent a conducive environment for holding a free, fair, and participatory election, said the speakers in a discussion titled ‘Concocted Election Again: Civic Anxiety.’
Civil society group Committee for the Protection of Fundamental Rights organised the programme in the capital.
They also questioned the controversial role of the Election Commission, which declared the election schedule for the 12th parliamentary polls in such a volatile political environment.
Referring to various newspaper reports published in recent months, Dhaka University law professor Asif Nazrul said in his keynote paper that the government was heading towards one-sided polls by suppressing the BNP and other opposition through attacks, cases, and convictions.
‘The ruling party started its electoral campaign, declaring its party candidates denying the proposals for holding dialogue and negotiation. The government wants to make the election look participatory by forming the King’s Party and fielding dummy candidates,’ said Asif Nazrul.
Noting that people could not cast votes in the 2014 and 2018 general elections, Asif highlighted seven points that evidenced the intent of holding another one-sided election.
They included the revival of old cases where opposition party leaders and activists have been implicated, wholesale convictions, unusual trials, fresh cases and arrests, attacks on houses and arresting relatives, and the formation of the King’s Party.
Eminent lawyer Shahdeen Malik said that if AL came to power again through another rigged poll, whatever little opportunity people had now to speak, they would lose it.
Citizens for Good Governance, better known as Shujan, secretary Badiul Alam Majumder chaired the discussion.
Former Jahangirnagar University economics professor Anu Muhammad said that it was unfortunate that no partisan government could arrange a minimum acceptable election in 52 years of the country’s independence.
He urged the government and the EC to create an environment where people could cast their votes amid festivities and enthusiasm.
‘EC should release all political prisoners arrested unethically and illogically to create a favourable environment for elections,’ Sharmeen Murshid, chief executive officer of the election observation group Brotee, said.
Internationally acclaimed Bangladeshi photographer and activist Shahidul Alam moderated the event, while rights watchdog Ain o Salish Kendra executive director Faruq Faisel, non-profit organisation Naripokkho founder Shireen Huq, and writer and activist Rahnuma Ahmed, among others, spoke at the event.
