Editorial
Controversy around city and municipal polls
Free and fair election to all elected bodies is the need of the hour
NEW controversies appear to be coming to the fore as the country prepares for the long awaited general elections by the end of the year. The major political parties have raised questions about the polls schedule for four city corporations and nine municipalities. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has rejected the schedule while the Awami League has described the move by the Election Commission as conspiratorial and farcical. There is thus a complicated situation before the country. Of course, the parties have a right to interpret matters in light of the views they hold about the existing state of things. But their objections must be logical and fact based, rather than purely on suspicion.
Some of the fears likely working in them include their suspicion that by its new move, the Election Commission and by extension the government is being selective about holding elections. They feel that the corporation and municipal elections schedule is discriminatory in that a pick-and-choose policy seems to have been adopted when a whole tranche of local body polls have fallen due. There is too the claim that the constitution does not empower the caretaker government to hold any election other than that for parliament. Moreover, the parties suspect that some hidden agenda are at work to prevent them from playing their due role in politics in the coming weeks and months. Politicians think that the these polls, if held earlier than the national elections, will quite likely undercut the voting for a new parliament and in fact might be a move to supplant political parties with a new arrangement being put in place and making them irrelevant.
We at this newspaper, while taking such thoughts into consideration, nevertheless are of the opinion that the best way of tackling suspicions of so-called hidden agenda, should there be any, is for the parties to vigorously participate in the polls, ensure that they are free and fair, and thus thwart any move to influence the outcome. Not participating in the polls is not a solution. There are, in fact, a number of reasons why these polls need to go ahead. Firstly, since the imposition of the emergency, the nation has gradually been readying itself for election, especially general elections and it will not be wise now for such expectations to be belied by negative new developments. Secondly, city corporations and municipal bodies have been without elections for long, a condition that does no one any good. The parties must on their own initiate a strong debate on the necessity of such elections by recognising the great need for change people by and large have expected since the imposition of the emergency.
The bottom line should be clear to everyone. It is imperative for the nation to get back to good, democratic governance. That being the point, any decision by the parties to boycott the corporation and municipal polls can only create new uncertainty. We expect them to act with sagacity, make their presence felt at the polls and thus prepare the ground for free, fair and credible general elections at the end of the year. Democracy is not served by an abandonment of the field but by a resolute holding on to it.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments