Awami League-free poll’s ‘inclusiveness’ will face more questioning, says TIB

Iftekharuzzaman says assessment detected no signs of election engineering

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has found the recently held national election acceptable overall, describing it as reasonably “fair, competitive, participatory, inclusive”, while cautioning that questions will persist over inclusiveness in the absence of the Awami League.

The findings were presented on Monday at a press conference at TIB’s office in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi, where Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman responded to questions from journalists on the general process and affidavit-based monitoring.

In its overall assessment, the local chapter of the Berlin-based Transparency International, a global anti-corruption organisation, said although signs of relatively healthy competition were visible at the outset, political parties and candidates gradually reverted to old electoral practices.

“As a result, intra-party rifts, unhealthy rivalry for power and violence increased during the campaign and continued even after polling,” it added.

TIB’s observation report said 21.4 percent of votes cast were fake ballots, while in 14.3 percent of cases rival polling agents were obstructed from entering centres.

It also documented 125 incidents of post-election violence.

The organisation referred to instability, voter anxiety stemming from election-related violence, and activities by what it described as ousted authoritarian forces opposing the poll as concerns.

As in previous elections, it said parties, candidates relied on money, religion, muscle power, patriarchal dominance, and majoritarian influence to try and sway voters.

It added that the use of money and religion, in particular, had “increased significantly”.

While the Election Commission and other stakeholders took “visible effort” to create a level playing field, the watchdog pointed out that the effective use of the commission’s powers was often lacking when it came to preventing code of conduct violations and irregularities.

According to the TIB, 99 percent of candidates violated at least one of the 58 rules in the electoral code of conduct.

Widespread irregularities in both online and offline campaigning were reported, which the commission “could not fully curb due to its limitations, thereby failing to ensure a completely safe and equal environment for all voters”.

Asked whether there had been election engineering, the TIB chief said such manoeuvring might have taken place behind the scenes, but the organisation did not find evidence of engineering in its assessment.

“The election was comparatively free, fair, and competitive,” it said

A journalist questioned how the election could be considered inclusive and participatory without the Awami League. In response, Iftekharuzzaman said at the grassroots level, in many places, Awami League leaders, activists urged voters to cast ballots for other symbols while shouting party slogans.

He said it cannot be claimed that all Awami League leaders and activists abstained from voting.

He noted that further debate would continue over whether a poll held without the Awami League can be termed inclusive.

The issue of “debt-burdened” elected BNP candidates also arose in the observations.

Iftekharuzzaman said being indebted is not the same as being a loan defaulter. Under the law, those individuals are not classified as defaulters.