Bangladesh’s farcical vote: A move towards authoritarian state

On Dec. 30, 2018, Bangladesh held its 11th national election since becoming independent in 1971. The questionable results ended in a sweeping victory for the ruling Bangladesh Awami League led by Sheikh Hasina. The AL-led coalition secured 288 out of 300 seats in Parliament, ostensibly winning more than 90 percent of the popular vote. The coalition of the principal opposition party, the Jatiya Oikya Front and its major partner   Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), won a mere eight seats. The results ensured a third term in office for the Awami League.

“That kind of margin of victory — 96 percent — was a result one might expect in a place like North Korea, not a democratic nation such as Bangladesh,” says a foreign media just after the polls.

Another media questioned the polls as saying, “With the opposition sidelined and the ruling party having secured five more years of rule through highly questionable means, Bangladesh has become something closely approximating a one-party state.”

“What happened on December 30 clearly shows that Bangladesh has officially become a one-party state of an exotic variety, where elections take place, yet votes are not properly counted; where numerous opposition parties are allowed to exist, but are effectively rendered impotent and barred from ever reaching power; and where the raucous media are “free” but are only able to produce a self-censored cacophony of government-approved narratives,” says Aljazeera.

“The embarrassingly skewed tally suggested that the BNP was not really the biggest loser. The biggest loss was for democracy itself,” opines the Economist.

The 11th parliamentary election was inclusive but again failed to meet the people’s expectations. Despite the participation of all political parties, its one-sided image prevailed.  Throughout the campaign, the political opposition faced a surfeit of cases and attacks. Even so, the main opposition gave an impression that the situation would take a turn on voting day and the election would take place with much festivity and enthusiasm.

However, almost immediately after the results were announced, a host of foreign and domestic analysts pointed out that the election was far from free or fair. Their misgivings were warranted. At least 20 people were killed in election-related violence, many others were injured, and there were widespread allegations of voter intimidation.

According to various news reports, there were no opposition polling agents in various booths across the country. The opposition alleged that the ruling AL’s supporters forced opposition polling agents to leave booths. In addition, many opposition voters were scared to interact with members of the media standing outside the booths because AL supporters were listening to what voters were saying to reporters. A BBC correspondent reported that ballot boxes in Chittagong were filled before the polls opened, which is a serious allegation, raising questions about whether it was a free and fair process.

Besides, a woman was also gang rapped for casting her vote for the main opposition group on December 30. Police said medical examination of the woman has confirmed sexual assault and police said they were also investigating complaints of threats against her family following the arrests over the past few days. The woman’s husband told Reuters that a group of 10-12 men barged into their house in the southeastern district of Noakhali on the night of the election, tied up him and his four children inside the house, and raped her outside one by one. The husband said she was raped because she voted for the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party. “We could not do anything,” the husband said from her hospital bedside, adding that he had received threats on his phone to withdraw the complaint with police.

The Awami League has, of course, dismissed the charges of electoral malfeasance and instead suggested that the opposition is solely to blame for its anemic performance. Hasina’s government argued that it received such a sweeping mandate because it had delivered steady economic growth during its two terms in office. Furthermore, party stalwarts accused the opposition of precipitating electoral violence.

Unsurprisingly, officials have also rejected the opposition’s request for new elections. In reality, other than getting the Electoral Commission to look into some complaints about irregularities, the opposition has few options to redress its grievances.

Meanwhile, a feast was arranged at police headquarters in Dhaka recently for police stationed all over the country, to celebrate their successful performance in holding a parliamentary election of ‘international standards’.  Although the Election Commission (EC) did not claim the polls to be ‘international standard’, they arranged a ‘pitha’ festival for having held a ‘successful’ election.

The commission arranged the festival amid tight security at a time when the opposition parties planned to submit an official complaint to the commission, rejecting the 30 December poll results and demanding fresh voting.  Even the commission’s top bureaucrats were seen merrily fishing in the pool at the office complex.

When the representatives of the winning party went to the commission to thank the officials, the officials asked for some privileges to the new government. It is not clear if these can be called their demands or favours.

Now, there is a clear agreement among these analysts that democracy of Bangladesh is the biggest loser and the country has entered into a one-party state.

JOF demands fresh polls.

Immediately after the election hour, the main opposition alliance Jatiya Oikya Front on December 30 demanded immediate fresh general election under a non-party government rejecting the results of the day’s 11th parliamentary elections.

Front chief Dr Kamal Hossain, flanked by top alliance leaders, made the demand giving primary reaction to the Bangladesh elections at his Baily road house in Dhaka at about 8:00pm while over 400 candidates of different political parties boycotted the elections halfway through the polls alleging unprecedented election rigging and intimidation across the country.

Kamal Hossain, also the Gono Forum president, said that the opposition alliance rejected the ‘so-called’ results of the elections.

He said that they received reports of similar incidents of ‘vote robbery’ from almost all constituencies and over 100 of their candidates of and many candidates of different political parties boycotted the polls.

Earlier in the day, 299 candidates of Islami Andolan Bangladesh collectively, about 100 Oikya Front candidates individually, 26 Jamaat candidates, including 24 nominated by the BNP-led alliance, Ershad-led Jatiya Party presidium member Shunil Shuvo Roy and several other independent candidates boycotted the polls. They alleged that ruling Awami League activists beat their polling agents and forced them to leave the polling station, took control of the polling stations and stuffed ballot boxes with stamped ballots with the support of the polling and presiding officers and law enforcers.

Jamaat secretary general Shafiqur Rahman in a statement said that all of its 26 candidates boycotted the elections.

Voting was meaningless in the 11th national election as it was well orchestrated by Awami League to get the desired outcome, Left Democratic Alliance (LDA) on January 3, 2019. The left-leaning party alliance said this at a rally at the Jatiya Press Club in the afternoon.

Demanding re-election under a neutral caretaker government, they said public opinion has not been reflected in the “over-managed” election. Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) central committee member Ruhin Hossain Prince said polling centres were taken over by the ruling party activists across the country since early morning on the election day and opposition polling agents were not allowed in or were driven away.

Islami Andolan submit memo to president seeking re-election

Islami Andolan Bangladesh on Wednesday handed over a memorandum to president Abdul Hamid seeking his intervention for cancellation of the results of 11th parliamentary polls and holding a fresh election soon. Five representatives of the party handed over the memorandum to the president’s press secretary Joynul Abedin at Bangabhaban. Islami Andolan, which fielded highest number of candidates in 298 constituencies with the party’s hand-fan symbol, alleged that the ruling Awami League had rigged 30 to 70 per cent ballots in each of the polling centres before the polls began.

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has found evidences of vote rgging in 47 out of 50 constituencies the anti-corruption watchdog monitored during the holding of 30 December parliamentary polls.

TIB has observed that the law enforcement and the administration had collaborated with the process through participation or silence.

It has suggested that there should be a “judicial inquiry” into the massive irregularities committed in the 11th national elections.

Ballot boxes were stuffed in 33 constituencies in the previous night before the election while 41 constituencies saw casting of fake votes at the polling stations, according to TIB’s report titled ‘Overview of 11th parliamentary elections’ published at its office on Tuesday.

In the 50 constituencies that the TIB used as sample for reporting quality of the elections, it was found that the administration and law enforcers played a “silent role” in 42 constituencies during the voting. The voters were restricted or driven out of the polling stations in 21 constituencies, the TIB report pointed out.

“In many cases, the voters couldn’t cast their votes freely,” TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman said at the launch of the preliminary report.

“The law enforcement agencies, a section of officials of the administration and election officials behaved in a biased manner during the elections. This is a gross violation of law, devoid of any ethics.”

Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda has come down heavily on the Transparency International Bangladesh or TIB report on the 11th parliamentary election. “We are rejecting the TIB report outright,” the CEC told reporters after an event in Dhaka on Wednesday. “Because, though they [TIB] complained of irregularities, we did not receive any information on irregularities from the media, polling officers, magistrates and law-enforcing agencies, who were on the ground on the voting

Election commissioner Rafiqul Islam also dismissed the TIB findings, saying that it is imaginary and predetermined. “Since TIB calls it, preliminary report, it’s imaginary,” he argued, in his reaction to the TIB report.

The United Nations called for an independent and impartial investigation into the December 30 election in Bangladesh in which Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina won a third straight term amid accusations of violence and voting irregularities.

“We urge the authorities to carry out prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations into all alleged acts of violence and human rights violations related to the elections, with a view to holding accountable those responsible, regardless of their political affiliations,” said the United Nations.

“There are worrying indications that reprisals have continued to take place, notably against the political opposition, including physical attacks and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests, harassment, disappearances and filing of criminal cases,” the United Nations said.

Western governments, including the United States and the European Union, have also condemned the election-day violence and called for an investigation into a range of irregularities.

The US State Department, noting that the United States is Bangladesh’s largest foreign investor and largest single-country market, expressed concern about “credible reports of harassment, intimidation and violence” during the campaign and urged the election commission to work with all sides to address them. The European Union similarly called on Bangladesh to investigate the violence and “significant obstacles” that had “tainted” the campaign and the vote.

Canada says it will continue to work with the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to advance “mutual interests” and has called on authorities to address claims of election irregularities.

A Human Rights Watch report described “a climate of fear extending from prominent voices in society to ordinary citizens,” without any interference by an intimidated judiciary or election commission.

According to The Telegram, the BNP only got seven seats, which is also pretty implausible. After a decade in power, the Awami League is getting arrogant and careless. Bangladesh is now effectively a one-party state in which somewhere around half the population hates and fears the ruling party. For the moment the fear predominates, but sooner or later the Awami League will stumble and the hate will be expressed in actions.

MIHIR Sharma writing in the Economic Times praised Bangladesh and Sheikh Hasina’s government’s performance, but said that the elections could be more transparent.

He thinks that Sheikh Hasina, like all mortals, will not last forever and unless ‘democratic institutions that have been damaged are restored, Bangladesh could cause regional problems.’ And crisis will cause serious problems for the stability of South and Southeast Asia.

These expressions also show that the simpler, unipolar South Asia with India dominating is over and India’s own anxiety could influence events elsewhere. With India and China competing robustly, they are anxious if Sino-Indian interests will be affected or not by Bangladesh elections.

“Bangladesh is now effectively a one-party state in which somewhere around half the population hates and fears the ruling party. For the moment the fear predominates, but sooner or later the Awami League will stumble and the hate will be expressed in actions. It would have been better to stick with democracy, even if that meant winning only part of the time,’’ says a post-election report of the Telegram.

“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina probably didn’t need to cheat to win re-election. So why did she?” Questions NYT

The Editorial Board of The New York Times on January 14 last published an editorial saying that Sheikh Hasina has done marvels for Bangladesh over nearly 10 consecutive years as prime minister. Per-capita income in what was one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world has grown by nearly 150 percent, and the proportion of the population living in extreme poverty has dropped from 19 percent to about 9 percent. All the greater the pity that her achievements have been offset by a precipitous slide toward authoritarianism and an election in which Mrs. Hasina’s party won 288 of the 300 contested seats in Parliament, a preposterous 96 percent rate of victory.

In the weeks and months before the Dec. 30 vote, local and international human rights organizations chronicled a relentless campaign of intimidation, ranging from violence and arrests of opposition candidates and protesters to surveillance and a draconian digital security law that includes prison terms for posting “aggressive or frightening” content.

Referring to an interview given to The New Work Times by Sheikh Hasina in December last, the editorial noted that the prime minister appeared to share the delusion of autocrats everywhere that human rights concerns were peripheral to a developing country’s economic growth. “If I can provide food, jobs and health care, that is human rights,” she said. “What the opposition is saying, or civil society or your NGO’s — I don’t bother with that. I know my country, and I know how to develop my country.”

Then the editorial raised a big question as saying, “But why? Why produce nonsensical election results when polls indicated that Mrs. Hasina would likely have won a fair election handily? Mrs. Hasina’s every achievement will now be tainted by her authoritarian methods and repressive measures; her critics, driven into exile or underground, will become only more strident, and her foreign supporters more wary.”

The strong editorial concludes as says, “Given Mrs. Hasina’s political and personal trajectory, she is unlikely to be moved by such admonitions. But it is incumbent on countries doing business with Bangladesh and cheering its rise from poverty to remind her and her allies at every turn that human rights are not an imposition of an alien culture, but a critical element of development and progress.”

Earlier, Washington Post on December 31, in an analysis said that the But the results were anything but close: The incumbent prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and her ruling coalition won 288 out of 300 seats in Parliament.

That kind of margin of victory — 96 percent — was a result one might expect in a place like North Korea, not a democratic nation such as Bangladesh. That is exactly the problem: Hasina, Bangladesh’s increasingly authoritarian leader consolidated her grip on power but at the cost of her own electoral legitimacy.

Michael Kugelman of CNN on December 30 reported that the disputed election outcome could plunge Bangladeshi politics, already poisoned by bitter and often violently expressed partisanship, into a new and dangerous era. The opposition has every reason to be furious. For several years, the AL has engaged in a systematic campaign to undercut the opposition, if not dismantle it altogether. The crackdown has included scores of arrests. Several top figures, including opposition leader Khaleda Zia, are in jail.

The AL’s unrelenting campaign of political repression made any idea of a level electoral playing field a farce.

According to an analysis of Economic Times of India published on January 3 said, No wonder her party has been accused of — to put it politely — “over-managing” the election. The polls were, after all, preceded by a long period in which political opponents were intimidated, jailed or exiled.

It’s hardly surprising that Sheikh Hasina’s party won last week’s elections in Bangladesh. The scale of her victory, however, is literally unbelievable: Her Awami League won all but 10 of Bangladesh’s 298 constituencies. In her own seat of Gopalganj, the prime minister won by 229,539 votes to 123, says the Economic Times.

But seen from India, the way the election has played out is hugely disappointing. For one, Bangladesh has long been held up here as something of a role model in terms of governance: a country that has, unlike India, developed a thriving export sector; a country that, in spite of being resource-poor, has managed to empower its people and especially its women; a country in which the government machinery has displayed a certain humility and pragmatism when it comes to trying and testing various grassroots development solutions.

But, the damage done by the government’s electoral “management” goes far beyond the bilateral relationship with India. Few governments anywhere will celebrate Sheikh Hasina’s reelection under these terms. An illiberal democracy is no less dangerous in the long term just because it happens to be run by a liberal.

The simple truth is that Sheikh Hasina will not rule forever. Nobody can. And if her turn towards authoritarianism also tarnishes, in Bangladeshis’ minds, the Awami League’s principles of secular nationalism and inclusion, then the reaction will be awful indeed — and the implications for the stability of South and Southeast Asia will be even worse. Bangladesh’s prime minister should think of this five-year term as her last and begin to plan for what happens when she eventually turns over power to the opposition, as all democratic leaders must in time. She will have to begin by rebuilding the institutions that her administration has destroyed, concludes the Economic times post-election report on Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, a section in India is also anxious that China will continue to march in in what was traditionally its political backyard of sorts as a result of the elections. To them, China also means ISI — read Pakistan — and Islamists; so, it is worried if the electoral victory serves India or China more.

Although Western nations condemned election violence in Bangladesh, along with a range of other voting irregularities, experts say that these statements will not be followed by action.

The United States expressed concern on January 1 on the election-day irregularities that prevented some people from voting, as well as on reports of harassment, intimidation, and violence in the pre-election period that made it difficult for many opposition candidates and their supporters to campaign freely.

The European Union said that violence marred the election-day, and significant obstacles to a level playing field remained in place throughout the process and had tainted the electoral campaign and the vote.

“Violence marred the election day, and significant obstacles to a level playing field remained in place throughout the process and tainted the electoral campaign and the vote,” the EU said in a statement, calling for “a proper examination of allegations of irregularities.”

The US, Bangladesh’s largest foreign investor, expressed concern about “credible reports of harassment, intimidation, and violence in the pre-election period that made it difficult for many opposition candidates and their supporters to meet, hold rallies, and campaign freely.”

However, these statements by Western powers seem to have had no impact on the ruling party as well as Bangladesh’s election commission. The commission shows reluctance to investigate vote rigging claims, citing that no country in the world has rejected the election result. Moreover, a new government has already been formed based on the election outcome.

“The muted reaction of Western countries is surprising. After insisting on a ‘credible election’ these countries’ reactions are somewhat baffling to me,” Ali Riaz, a distinguished professor of political science at Illinois State University in the US, told DW.  “It should also be noted that, unlike India, China and Russia, these countries have refrained from sending congratulatory messages.”

Michael Kugelman from the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars thinks that the international community’s silence following Bangladesh’s questionable election outcome is striking.

“Much of the international community, particularly in the West, views Sheikh Hasina as a responsible world leader who has done her part to contribute to stability,” he told DW. “She has presided over smooth economic growth, cracked down hard on terror, and provided some welcome hospitable treatment to Rohingya refugees,” he said, adding that because of this, much of the world “feels no need” to pay mind to an internal matter like an election.

David Lewis, a professor of social policy at the London School of Economics, similarly said that many Western countries see Hasina as “offering relative stability” and questioning the election result “would risk more instability.”

Bangladesh’s economic potential might be another reason why Western nations have opted to ignore the controversial election result, which has turned the country into a one-party state. There have been significant Western investments in various sectors, particularly in energy and telecommunications.

On top of this, Bangladesh accepted nearly a million Rohingya refugees in 2017 after they fled Myanmar over a military crackdown. Western powers praised Hasina’s welcoming attitude towards those refugees.

“Not only is the Hasina government providing shelter, but there is also a perception that it has managed to check the potential radicalization of the refugees,” Ali Riaz said.

Dr Norbert Röttgen, the chair of the German parliament’s foreign affairs commission, thinks that European countries haven’t sufficiently voiced their concerns over election irregularities in Bangladesh.

“While on paper European governments have come to the right conclusions, they have not sufficiently voiced their concerns. This is more than regrettable,” Röttgen told DW.

“I believe that both the German government and the opposition parties should ensure that their concerns are heard by those in power in Bangladesh as well as the Bangladeshi people. As democrats, it is our task to show support for their legitimate right to vote,” he said, adding that Europe’s silence on election fraud allegations shows that Europe “doesn’t sufficiently take notice of Asia” as an important region.

“This is a severe strategic shortcoming, which Europe needs to rectify. Doing so should entail vocally speaking up in favor of human rights and democracy within the region,” said Röttgen.

Ali Riaz also thinks that Western countries have a responsibility to take a stand on the voter fraud issue, which ensured a landslide victory for Bangladesh’s ruling party.

“It’s incumbent on the international community to act and ensure that the democratic aspirations of the citizens of Bangladesh are not trampled. They can’t forget that they have a responsibility to uphold the letter and spirit of Article 21 of the Universal Human Rights Declaration,” he said.

Bangladesh has been gradually sliding back into authoritarianism over the last decade, after experiencing a chaotic democratic moment for about two decades in the 1990s and 2000s, when the country’s two major political parties took turns in power. There were teething pains in that nascent democracy, but people still rejoiced over their rights to elect and change their political leadership, says a Aljazeera report.

What happened on December 30 clearly shows that Bangladesh has officially become a one-party state of an exotic variety, where elections take place, yet votes are not properly counted; where numerous opposition parties are allowed to exist, but are effectively rendered impotent and barred from ever reaching power; and where the raucous media are “free” but are only able to produce a self-censored cacophony of government-approved narratives.

Today in Bangladesh, a party has its own state which has one mission: to maintain the status quo. There are certainly at least two countries that are happy about that status quo remaining – China and India – both of which stand to benefit politically and economically with Hasina in power.

Some Western countries, which have been critical of the Bangladeshi government in the past, have so far refrained from congratulating the winner. However, the Trump administration expressed its willingness to continue working with the new government, which may not mean much for Washington. But in Bangladesh, it is seen as a stamp of approval, boosting Hasina’s legitimacy.

This new wave of oppression will likely keep Bangladesh’s streets quiet, at least in the short term. But the absence of violence should not trick us into thinking the country will settle into authoritarian stability.

A rigged election which effectively sidelined, neutered and humiliated the political centrists in Bangladesh will ultimately swell the ranks of rejectionists of all varieties, including the ones who reject democracy, secularism, and political change through peaceful means. And that does not bode well for the future of the country, concluded the Aljazeera report.

The government would extensively engage with the international community in the next one month to contain criticisms on the December 30 general election marred by reported rigging and intimidation of voters and opposition candidates by the ruling Awami League.  Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen has opened the move with a diplomatic briefing on Thursday organised for ambassadors, high commissioners and chiefs of foreign missions in Dhaka to defend the position of the government and the Election Commission on the situation prevailed during the elections.

Besides, senior government officials believe that Munich Security Conference scheduled for February 15-17 in Germany would be an appropriate platform to face criticism from foreign quarters on election-time environment. Heads of states and governments, defence and foreign ministers and representatives of over 100 countries and chiefs of different international organisations are set to join the conference. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina, also in charge of the defence ministry, is expected to lead the Bangladesh delegation in the conference.

She would also hold meetings with international dignitaries on the sideline of the conference.

‘Facing criticism with setting outline for future engagements would be the strategy of the new government,’ another senior official said.

Sheikh Hasina would also hold bilateral talks with German chancellor Angela Merkel.  Hasina would convene the first meeting of the new cabinet of the Awami League government on January 21.

In his first tour abroad as foreign minister, AK Abdul Momen would lead a Bangladesh delegation in the meeting of the joint consultative commission with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj in February 7-8.

The foreign ministry held an inter-ministerial meeting on Bangladesh-India joint consultative commission on Wednesday with foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque in the chair.

Shahidul Haque said that almost all aspects of bilateral relations including trade, security, border management, connectivity, energy cooperation and cooperation on international and multinational platforms would be discussed in the joint consultative commission meeting co-chaired by the two foreign ministers.

Shahidul Haque would also be in Washington for four days in the next week for series of meetings with senior US officials at the White House, the Department of State and the Pentagon.

Finally, it seems that over the course of the past decade or so, the country has seen the genesis of a number of radical Islamist organizations including the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, the Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, and the Shahadat-e-al-Hikma. In part, they can be traced to a particular strain of Islamic zealotry that has existed within the country’s political culture since independence. Some elements of Bangladesh’s population had been averse to the country’s separation from Pakistan on religious grounds. They had remained deeply disaffected with the political mainstream and the country’s adoption of a secular constitution. Subsequently, the trial and execution of some collaborators with the Pakistan Army during the 1971 crisis also animated these religious zealots.