The most controversial general elections of Bangla-desh’s 300-member Parliament called ‘Jatiya Sangsad’; 12th since creation of the country in 1971, were held on January 7, 2024. Almost 120 million registered voters had to choose 1969 candidates from 28 registered parties and 437 independent candidates vying election to the 300-seat parliament. Interestingly, these were the 1st out of 50 elections to be held by different countries during 2024. The result manifested that Bangladesh’s ruling party ‘Awami League’ had won 223 seats, independent candidates secured 61 and the rest were bagged by other parties. The result exhibits that 94% of the parliament seats will be filled by the members of the ruling party. Many political parties, including the main opposition ‘Bangladesh Nationalist Party’, anticipating grave fowl- plays, boycotted the election. This refusal meant that a significant segment of the political spectrum was not represented in the electoral process. The BNP’s decline was not baseless as no care-taker government was formed though it was hotly demanded by the opposition and thousands of BNP’s workers were kept behind the bars apart from killing a reasonable number of them. The figures provided by the ‘ALJAZEERA’ dated January 10, 2024, 27,200 opponents, mostly from BNP, were imprisoned, 104,000 faced trial and at least 27 had been killed. Furthermore, the low turnout is another concern: needless to say that a healthy voter turn-out is taken as a barometer of the public’s trust in the electoral process and their belief in the efficacy of their vote. The BNP also announced a non-cooperation movement against the government, urging the people not to co-operate with it. After her election as Prime Minister, it will be the Madam Hasina Wajid’s fourth straight term in office and the fifth over-all.
Apart from other wrong-doings or objectionable actions, official figures showing the turn-out at 41.8% have been questioned by a wide range of world media, political observers, human right organizations; and by a reasonable number of contestants. The turn-out became highly doubtful because an hour before the culmination of voting the Election Commission Secretary had come-up with estimated turn-out at 27.15%. The casting of one-third more votes during the final hour of voting made the official figure seriously doubtful. G. M. Qader, the Chairman of the ‘Jatiya Party’, which managed to win 11 seats, observed that this election is not likely to gain credibility in the eyes of independent observers and analysts. Professor of Politics, Ali Riaz of Illinois State University opined that ‘Bangladesh is heading towards one-party rule with ‘Awami League’ holding power and the other parties constituting the opposition in the parliament with the support of the ruling party’. The observation of the renowned political analyst cannot be brushed aside as Prime Minister Hasina Wajid on various occasions has ‘referred to BNP as a terrorist organization, leading to speculation that the new government may ban the BNP from politics’.
The recent Bangladeshi elections have become utterly controversial internationally as well…a reasonable number of democratic countries declined to accept the validity of the exercise being neither free nor fair: most significantly, the USA and the UK out-rightly condemned the process by calling it ‘illegitimate’. The USA, in particular, was harsh and stated that it “shares the view that these elections were not free or fair; and we regret that not all parties participated’. Some political analysts believe that there is a likelihood of Washington ‘imposing visa restrictions and targeted sanctions against individuals who played key roles in the conduct of election’. However, such an action could jeopardize US plans to include Bangladesh into its over-all plan to balance the rise of China. According to several analysts, it will also be a challenging task for Bangladesh as well to become part of US’s ‘contain China’ policy when Beijing has been its top trading partner for more than a decade. On the other hand, the Bangladesh’s policy-makers will have to keep in view that Bangladesh’s apparel industry, which employs four million workers, clocked exports worth $47 in 2023—84% of the country’s total exports and the US is the single largest export destination for these garments. The UK viewed that ‘respect for human rights as well as rule of law and its due processes are essential elements of democracy’ and ‘these standards were not consistently met during the election period’. The UK also criticized what it described as ‘acts of intimidation and violence during the election’. The UN also expressed concerns about the democratic process in general and the human rights in particular. Furthermore, it was observed that “thousands of opposition supporters were detailed arbitrarily and subjected to intimidation’. It was also urged by the UN ‘to create conditions for truly inclusive democracy’.
While the western democracies and the international organizations were bitterly critical of the Bangladesh’s elections, China, Russia and India took no time to facilitate PM Hasina Wajid. India, particularly, is very excited regarding the development and its closeness with PM Hasina makes it ‘unconcerned’ with the democratic back-slide in its neighboring country. It has declared Hasina’s victory as a “welcome development’ as it considers her as a ‘steadfast ally’ and ‘a great friend’ because she is against Pakistan and maintains ‘balanced’ ties with China. Apart from all other reasons, Bangladesh is significant for India’s security from north-eastern side where insurgent groups remained active for decades and used to take refuge here; a process which was interrupted by PM Hasina with a strong hand. Also, the deteriorating situation in Myanmar stresses closeness between India and Bangladesh.
Sohela Nazneen, a young researcher, in her article titled ‘Bangladesh’s election results: implications for growth, democracy and development’ published by ‘Institute of development studies’ dated January 11, 2024, writes that the shift towards a dominant party state, has visibly lowered the quality of democracy in Bangladesh. The room for deliberation and public debate has narrowed over-time and is not likely to be restored. The civil society groups, concerned with political and civic rights are perturbed as more restrictions may be imposed upon them. According to the up-coming intellectual, the future of democracy in Bangladesh seems to be bleak. Her calculation is supported by certain other developments as well: the CIVICUS monitor has recently placed Bangladesh among 28 countries where-in civic space have continuously shrinked.
