ELECTIONS in Bangladesh have far too often been marred by boycotts, violence and irregularities. Since democracy was re-established in 1991, after a decade and a half of military rule, Bangladesh has held five general elections and in most cases there have been allegations of some form of electoral irregularity by the Election Commission. However, the 9th parliamentary election held on 29 December 2008 marks a turning point in the management and conduct of elections in Bangladesh.

Following a series of reforms undertaken by the Election Commission, Bangladesh has taken a big step forward in reforming the electoral environment in the country, increasing public confidence and returning credibility back to the institution charged with ensuring a smooth transition from one elected government to another. The election has raised the bar on how elections ought to be conducted. This paper discusses the reforms undertaken ahead of the 2008 parliamentary election, including reform of the electoral law, registration of political parties, use of technology, delimitation, and the holding of upazilla elections after a gap of many years.

The electoral reforms resulted in a record turnout on election day, indicating high levels of public confidence in the electoral environment, an increased level of public awareness about the candidates and the electoral process, and finally, the opposition parties accepting, albeit grudgingly, the results of the election. These are remarkable changes in a country that only a couple of years back had demanded the ousting of the Election Commission, alleging political bias and electoral irregularities.

The 9th parliamentary election, originally scheduled for 22 January 2007, had to be cancelled following widespread violence, protest and boycott of the election by the 14-party alliance led by the then main opposition party, the Bangladesh Awami League. The country had come to a near standstill as the 14-party alliance placed an 11-point demand before the caretaker government, seeking, most importantly, the ouster of the then Chief Election Commissioner, Justice Aziz, and the preparation of a new and more accurate voter list.

Justice Aziz was widely perceived to be a BNP supporter and some of his actions were deemed highly controversial, in particular the appointment of upazilla election officers suspected of belonging to the BNP and Jamaat-i-Islami parties. The voter list also became a major reason for the opposition’s boycott, the subsequent cancellation of the election and declaration of a state of emergency. The Chief Election Commissioner, Justice Aziz, had unilaterally gone ahead with the preparation of a fresh voter list despite a court order requiring that the list be based on the one prepared in 2000. As a result of these actions, and the irregularities in the voter list highlighted by independent surveys, the credibility of the Bangladesh Election Commission hit an all-time low.

 

The ensuing violence that erupted throughout the country alongside the complete deadlock between the two main political parties – Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Bangladesh Awami League – led to the declaration of a state of emergency on 11 January 2007 and the formation of a new army-backed caretaker government under the leadership of Fakhruddin Ahmed. In February 2007, the President, in consultation with the new care-taker government, reconstituted the Election Commission and appointed a former bureaucrat, A.T.M. Shamsul Huda, as the new Chief Election Commissioner. The President also appointed Mohammad Sohul Hussain and Brigadier General (retd.) M. Shakhawat Hossain as Election Commissioners. Humayun Kabir was appointed as Secretary of the Election Commission Secretariat. The reconstituted Election Commission was charged with creating an electoral environment conducive to fair and credible elections and conducting the 9th parliamentary election by the end of 2008.

Upon taking control, Shamsul Huda began a series of initiatives aimed at reforming the commission and restoring credibility to the one institution charged with ensuring neutrality while facilitating democratic transition from one political government to another. An early step taken by the reconstituted Election Commission was to ensure the passage of the Election Commission Secretariat Ordinance, 2008 making the commission autonomous of the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. Although the Secretary to the Election Commission continues to be appointed by the civil service, the new ordinance resulted in empowering the commission and strengthening its autonomy and credibility, thereby substantially allaying the fears of the opposition parties.

The Election Commission, as a result, now enjoys a degree of political space that was not available to its predecessors. Subsequently, the commission announced its electoral road-map, detailing the various measures it planned to undertake to ensure free and fair elections at the end of 2008. These tasks included electoral law reform, the creation of a first-ever photographic voter list based on a database that would help reduce fraudulent voting on election day, political party registration and constituency delimitation.

 

Because the scheduled national election of 22 January 2007 was cancelled, in part because of protests about an intensely discredited voter list estimated to carry as many as 12.2 million erroneous voters, creating an accurate and credible voter list was high on the new commission’s agenda. The political parties demanded the creation of an accurate voter list with photographs to facilitate free and fair elections. The reconstituted Election Commission agreed, and its ‘Roadmap to Elections’ included the creation of a fresh national database of eligible voters that would include photographs of each voter.

In addition to errors in the list itself, the absence of a photograph led to numerous incidents of vote theft, a common cause of voter disenfranchisement in past elections. Election rigging normally begins at the stage of voter registration where, due to the lack of a national database, the compilation of a voter list is ad hoc, marred with irregularities leading to contrived problems such as voting without choosing.

 

Putting together the first ever photographic voter list in time for elections was a real challenge for the commission. However, with support from the Bangladesh Army and financing by international donors through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the commission completed the nearly impossible task of preparing a list of more than 80 million voters in less than 11 months. This enormous achievement required training more than 500,000 election workers, procuring over 10,000 laptops with webcams and fingerprint scanners, and coordinating activities in nearly 90,000 registration centres across the country. The exercise also involved digitally capturing personal data, photographs and fingerprints onto laptops, which were then integrated into the national database.

National and international assessments of the list revealed high levels of accuracy and public confidence. The photographic voter list went a long way towards restoring the credibility of the Election Commission ahead of the scheduled parliamentary election. The success of the voter registration process and the public awareness campaign helped restore pride and confidence in the electoral process.

A useful and innovative by-product of the voter registration process was the national ID card given to each registered voter. In addition to serving as an incentive for eligible voters to register, the ID cards quickly became indispensable in the daily life of ordinary citizens as banks and government offices made them a requirement for service delivery. As the first document establishing an individual’s identity, a great deal of pressure currently exists on the Election Commission to issue a card to every citizen and further link the card to government services. The new database offers incredible potential in improving service delivery and moving towards an e-governance model of service delivery.

 

Following a series of dialogues with political parties and civil society organizations, the Election Commission made significant amendments to the Representation of the People Order 1972 (RPO). One major amendment to the law was the mandatory registration of political parties which forced internal party reform by requiring elected members in committees at all levels of the party structure. Parties are now also required to prove their support base and organizational structure by being elected to at least one constituency in the past, and having organizational committees in at least 10 districts and 50 upazillas of the country. The amended law empowers the Election Commission to cancel the registration of a political party for violating certain provisions of the amended RPO.

To ensure transparency in election spending, the commission revised the law requiring political parties to submit election expenditure reports, revealing sources of income and bank account details. The other major changes in the law include new provisions for disclosure by candidates about their educational background, sources of income and expenditure and information on debts incurred. The commission also revised the grounds for disqualification of candidates, which now includes, among others, disqualification for being a loan or utility bill defaulter.

 

Though most political parties fought hard against the approval of the revised RPO, in the end the act was promulgated and all the major political parties registered with the Election Commission ahead of the 9th parliamentary election. A code of conduct was also established to enable monitoring of campaign activities and holding candidates accountable for their actions during the election period. The code of conduct requires that candidates get prior permission for holding processions and large gatherings, prevents candidates from using coloured posters and places restrictions on where posters can be affixed. It also allows the posting of election observers at all levels, including at the polling centre.

For the most part, candidates complied with the revised RPO and the code of conduct; some restrictions like the ban on use of coloured posters or doling out of gifts, even if it was merely serving a cup of tea by the candidate in his constituency, were welcomed by candidates as they were seen as a cost saving measure. While they may not have brought about immediate changes in political behaviour, these electoral reforms went a long way in creating an environment conductive to holding free and fair elections, ensuring transparency and credibility in the process and raising the bar for future elections in Bangladesh.

To ensure that all votes carry the same weight, the commission also included constituency delimitation in its election roadmap. Disparity in constituency sizes resulted in voter strength varying from a low 104100 in some cases to six times that number in others. Despite strong opposition from political parties, the commission did not succumb to the pressure and successfully completed the first comprehensive constituency delimitation exercise since the country’s independence.

 

In the 9th parliamentary election, the use of technology increased administrative efficiency, reduced long-term costs and, most importantly, enhanced citizens’ access to the electoral process. The commission also developed an upgraded interactive website that was accessed by thousands on election night alone; the website enabled the commission to provide access to key information including about candidates, election results and the voter registration process.

The Election Commission Secretariat helped develop a nationwide ICT infrastructure, connecting the central office to its field offices across the country. The new network allowed the establishment of a nationwide candidate declaration system that, for the first time, enabled the public and media easy access to each candidate’s information including educational qualifications and income. This has resulted in an increased level of transparency in the political process – voters went to the polls armed with key information about their candidates and were thus able to make an informed decision about whom to vote for. The information will also enable voters to compare declarations of candidates from one election year to another, thus better able to hold them accountable.

In addition to the candidate declaration system, the Election Commission Secretariat also instituted a fresh nomination and results system, resulting in election results being compiled in record time, and avoiding the delays that often marked past elections. The use of technology on election day not only made the process more efficient and cost-effective, it also helped reduce political tensions that often accompany delays in the declaration of results. The use of technology has raised the expectation bar about elections and hopefully the public, having experienced it once, will continue to demand the same level of transparency and efficiency in the electoral process in future.

 

Other measures taken to bring credibility back to the commission and enhance transparency in the process involved the use of translucent ballot boxes, incidentally a long-term demand of the major political parties. The Election Commission committed itself to providing such ballot boxes for the 29 December 2008 election. With financial support from the international community, the Bangladesh Election Commission deployed over 200,000 translucent ballot boxes on election day. These boxes helped build confidence and ensured transparency during the election.

As a result of the reforms undertaken by the commission, the election was hailed as the most transparent, credible and peaceful one the country had ever experienced. ‘Professionalism, transparency and credibility were the hallmarks of this election,’ claimed the European Union Election Observation Mission. Over 64 million Bangladeshis, including a record number of women, voted on 29 December 2008, amidst tight security to elect a new democratic government, replacing the military-backed caretaker government that had ruled the country for two years.

Both domestic and international observers concluded that the election was peaceful, a dramatic change from past elections that have been marred by fraud and intimidation. Voters stood in long lines to vote in the landmark election, returning democracy to Bangladesh. ‘I came here half an hour before the polling began… there are already 200 women standing in line,’ said Tashkina Yasmin, a voter waiting in line in northwestern Chapainawabganj town. With over 86% voter turnout and women voters outnumbering their male counterparts, the election set a high democratic standard. ‘All Bangladeshis can take great pride in the success of these elections. The high voter turnout underscores the people’s desire to see democracy restored,’ said Gordon Duguid, a U.S. State Department spokesman.

 

The new photographic voter list ensured accuracy during voting, revised constituency boundaries ensured each vote carried the same weight, and a new ICT infrastructure ensured improved access to information on candidates and election day results. In a festive atmosphere, the BEC held an all-night live broadcast announcing results as they came through the newly created nationwide ICT network. The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) Foundation’s post-election statement read: ‘We commend the measures taken by the Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC), the Caretaker Government (CTG), civil society groups… They fostered a peaceful and inclusive election environment which attracted a strong and enthusiastic voter turnout.’

In addition to the highly successful 2008 election, the commission – amidst intense debate and pressure to further delay the election – succeeded in holding elections to nearly 480 upazillas in January 2009. Though the local government body was first established in 1982, a move welcomed by the public, as a result of political pressure from lawmakers who were apprehensive about losing control over local development work, the system was abolished in the early 1990s. However, after a gap of eighteen years the Election Commission, with support from the caretaker government, was successfully able to hold elections to the local body.

 

The Bangladesh Election Commission continues to enjoy high levels of public confidence. Its tireless efforts over the past two years to prepare for and conduct inclusive, credible and technically sound elections, has returned democracy back to the country. The commission and its secretariat are characterized by competence, determination and transparency, working closely with a wide range of stake-holders to prepare for and conduct the hallmark election.

The 9th parliamentary election has set a new standard for future elections in Bangladesh. While political parties are still at loggerheads with each other, often resorting to confrontational ways and boycott of Parliament and the party in power continues to practice a ‘winner take all’ politics, the country can be proud that it has made major advances in the way it conducts elections. Even more, increased public access to key information, including on candidates, can help hold elected leaders accountable. All this augurs well for democracy in Bangladesh.