Governance and election experts said that the continued low turnouts in elections, largely caused by the failure to make the political institutions effective and strong, could spell disaster for the country.
Experts, including a political scientist, on Sunday told New Age that people were staying away from voting and other political activities as the political parties—both ruling and opposition—failed to maintain the interest of the common people in politics.
They said that a less than 30 per cent turnout in Saturday’s elections to the Dhaka north and south cities was the latest manifestation of people’s lack of interest in voting.
This reluctance in polls mainly stemmed from the one-sided January 5, 2014 general election in which 153 lawmakers of the ruling Awami League were elected unopposed, they observed.
On January 13, in the by-election to the Chattogram-8 constituency, less than 23 per cent of the voters turned up to cast their votes and more than 80 per cent of the votes cast were in favour of the AL candidate.
According to party insiders, the Awami League is also not happy with the turnout in the just-concluded elections to the two Dhaka cities though they are publicly making different statements.
Several central AL leaders on Sunday told New Age that the party was happy with the Dhaka cities’ polls results but they were concerned over the low turnout as they thought that even their supporters did not come to polling stations.
They said that the Awami League would soon review the matter at the party forum.
The returning officers declared AL mayoral candidate M Atiqul Islam and Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh elected respectively for the Dhaka north and south cities early Sunday.
Addressing a press conference at the Nirbachon Bhaban on the day, Election Commission secretary M Alamgir said that many Awami League voters did not appear at polling stations on Saturday.
He revealed that the total turnout in the Dhaka North city was 25.30 per cent and 29.02 per cent in the South.
He went on to say that the Election Commission was not responsible for the low turnout as the voters should have come to the polling centres.
‘The commission’s duty is to invite the voters only, not to ensure their presence,’ he said, adding that the rate of turnout was lower in developed countries than in Bangladesh.
He said that he did not agree with the opinion that people did not come to the polling stations due to lack of their trust in the elections.
The rate of turnout would have been higher had all the AL supporters gone to the stations, he further said.
He also viewed that the ruling party supporters had a mind-set that that there was no problem with their not casing votes as they were confident about their party’s victory.
He also offered the explanation that people enjoyed the holiday and spent their time on Facebook.
Former caretaker government adviser M Hafizuddin Khan said that people saw no reason for taking part in the electoral process as they were having the message from the statements of ruling party people that their victory was certain.
The continuation of low turnouts will be a reason for a diminishing respect for the public representatives among the people as they represent a minor section of society, he added.
Former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder said that anti-people activities on the part of the political parties were responsible for such a low interest among them in the vote.
He commented that the Election Commission on their part also failed to assure the people of their safety and security, adding that the lack of the assurance that they would be able to cast their votes themselves also prompted voters not to go to the polling stations.
The recent trends in non-participatory and controlled elections have also scared voters away the prevailing culture of voting, he observed.
Former election commissioner M Sakhawat Hossain said that people were not coming to polling stations as they had not more trust in the polling.
The trend towards ignoring the elections is alarming for democracy and the ultimate result of this trend would not be good, he warned.
He said that voting was the first step of democracy and democracy would fail if the first step was obstructed continually.
There has been an allegation that people were barred from casting their votes in the December 30, 2018 general election, which is also a reason for the loss of people’s interest in the vote, he added.
He said that people naturally found no interest in going to polling stations when they came to believe that their votes had already been cast.
Another former election commissioner, Md Sahnewaz, said that the Election Commission’s failure to encourage people to go to polling stations was a reason for the low turnout in the city polls.
He said that people had confusion about the use of the electronic voting machine while the commission did not do enough to educate them about its use.
He observed that the political campaigning against the EVM and the electoral environment also discouraged people to stay away from the elections.
Dhaka University political science professor Shantanu Majumder said that people became angry over voting after the January 5, 2014 general election.
He said that the controlled elections and the dependence of on undemocratic systems like caretaker government destroyed political institutions.
Holding of incredible elections one after another too obstructed the development of political institutions, he added.
He also commented that the campaigning of the candidates was enough to discourage voters to shun them as they were making unrealistic promises.
In other city corporation elections since 1994, the turnout ranged from 60 to 80 per cent.
According to available data, the Dhaka city corporations are the only local government bodies that have witnessed a fast decline in turnout.
In the last elections in 2015, the turnout in Dhaka North was 35.87 per cent and in Dhaka South was 48.57 per cent.
The turnout in Rangpur city polls was 74.23 per cent, Rajshahi city polls 78.86 per cent and Sylhet city polls 62 per cent, held in 2018, while the Cumilla city polls saw a 65.59 per cent turnout in 2017 and the Narayanganj city polls 62.33 per cent in 2016.
