an ordinary citizen

The Council Of Advisers okeyed amendments of Representation of People ordinance 2008 on July 13 2008 which includes
a) Compulsory registration of the political parties
b) incorporation of an option of the negative voting [DS]

The ordinance will be placed to the President for final approval. It is hoped that the ordinance will be effective from the last week of this month.

According to the amendments, no party will be allowed to participate in the election without prior registration. (more…)

Preparation is underway for local government elections in Bangladesh. Election Commission has declared its intension, the Government has endorsed it and the local people has accepted it.

The response of the major political parties was initially negative, and then AL changed its stand and decided to participate in the local government elections in its last Working Committee meeting.

Local government election is by essence non-political election. The election is based on local problems and aim at development of local areas. The candidate should be judged on their commitment to the local area, their competency and integrity of their character. The party affiliation should not play a major role in choice of local candidates by the people. (more…)

Election Commission declared the local government elections in 4 city corporations and 9 municipal corporations to be held in August 2008. Though the Government wanted the political parties to support the initiative but major political parties are against the local government elections to be held before the general election.

But the local residents of the respective areas are showing enthusiasm in election work, the political workers in the local area are also start working and the political and local leaders are showing their aspirations to participate in the local polls. (more…)

Election Commission is going to declare the 4 city corporations and 13 municipality elections shortly though the political parties on and off the dialogue were speaking against the local government elections before the general election of December 2008.

In the meantime, government also approved the local government Commission ordinance, 2008 to clear the path to hold the elections.[DS]

BNP, pro-Delwar faction declared that they will resist the local body elections throughout Bangladesh but AL which has recently changed their stand after the release of Hasina from jail, declared that the will participate in the local body elections though the local body elections will non-partisan and after winning the local body winners will not able to hold any portfolio in the political parties.

Ground was also being prepared as the local body representatives from different parts of the country met the advisers of the caretaker government and were demanding the local body elections before the national election.

The politicians and critics were against the move as they fear the government may use the election to form a base to counter the present political trend.

An ordinary citizen

Post script:
AL took again a turn and its acting president Zillur Rahman termed the declarartion of local government election as a joke.
But both election commission and the gvernment are on the way to hold the election.
The local people of the declared area where the elections will be hel d are showning great enthusiasm.
The Daily Star in its editorial said that free and fair election to all elected bodies is the need of the hour.[...]
The DS reported that the grassroots leaders overlook major parties boycot mood and prepare fr campeign[...]

Sk Hasina has been released on paroll for 2 months hours back on the ground to have treatment for her illness in USA and Canada. He has already flied off to USA to be recieved at Boston by her son Sajib Wajed.[DS] [PA]

AL enthusiasts thronged at different spots to have a look of their leader. Members of central Committee sat with Sk Hasina to determine the political course of AL.Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed had a talk over telephone with hasina [PA] and some advisers also met with Sk Hasina after the meeting.

AL decided to participate in the dialogue and the election.[PA]

Dr. Hussain Zillur Rahman, the adviser responsible for the dialogue in reply to a question said that the government is trying to look at the issue with more human attitude and to make a co-ordination between the law and humainity and is trying to get back the confidence of all in the process to progress to an effective democracy.

The move is new turn in the political drama as few days back, the release of Hasia and/or Khaleda was uncertain.

The release will have a cooling effect on the political arena [DS]but how long it will continue will depend on the future course of action of opposing forces.

An ordinary citizen

Post script:

Dr. Kamal Hussain reacted sharply to the developments and said that the government must not be soft on corruptionists.[DS].
Ferdous Ahmed Quereshi of Progressive Democratic Party also condemned the act as a compromise on the part of the government. Khondoker Delwar of BNP said the release of Hasina is an outcome of underhand conspiracy of the AL with the Government. Hussain Zilklur Rahman, Adviser of the CTG said to the criticism that the Government is determined to have a free and fair election by 2008. He added that it is not necessary for the government to reply to all the questions.
Some parties also reacted to Dr. Kamal’s remark saying that they didn’t expect such a remark from a ‘guardian’ of the nation.[DS]

The ordinary citizen is feeling confused with the new developments. The politics in Bangladesh is real drama but who is conducting the present episode? It is true that people are not in the role of the main character and it is not clear who is going to be villain.

Prothom Alo, the leading Bangla daily flushed the main headline today with a sign of exclamation that ‘the penalized individuals will also able to compete in the election this time’.[PA]
Daily Star welcomes the review of the Emergency power rules[DS]

Dr. Kamal Hussain later accepted that that release of Hasina was done according to the law.

A journalist expressed his frustaion in staight language i n Prothom Alo[...]

Dr. Hussain Zillur Rahman is hopeful of making a balance between the legal complexity and humane attitude.

We have a common impression that media reflects the opinion of the people. It is not necessarily so.
Media represents a group of people who hold the privilege to express the opinion on any subject in the name of people. The people neither nominate them nor they seek permission from the people. (more…)

Our major political parties of Bangladesh AL and BNP are not yet ready for big changes in democracy.

AL is not yet decided to go to political dialogue , the government initiated to develop rapport with the political parties and to develop consensus on different issues in relation to election and beyond election. BNP is also also in dilemma to join the dialogue as neither of the factions is officially endorsed by the government in the invitation letter as the mainstream BNP. (more…)

When the present caretaker government came to power on the backdrop of 1/11 everyone was delighted and all were relieved of the tension of conflicting election and its consequences.
The new government declared its objectives of conducting a free fair election acceptable to all and a society free from corruption. (more…)

The political parties didn’t respond to the address of the Chief Adviser(CA) of the caretaker Government(CTG) Dr. Fakhruddin Ali A as was expected by the people and the intelligentsia. It is become difficult for the ordinary citizen to understand the inner thinking of the political leaders by his limited information and knowledge. (more…)

Chief Adviser of Bangladesh Caretaker Government Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmedin a televised address[Summary][Full text] last night has given his given his long waited speech where it was supposed that he would touch political dialogue, national election by December, withdrawal of the emergency rule,necessary reform in the political parties, continuation of the constitutional reforms etc. In his address he touched most of the points except the release or participation of Hasina and Khaleda Zia in the dialogue. (more…)

Education and Commerce Adviser, Dr. Hussain Zillur Rahman said that the advisers will talk with the different sections of people- civil society, different professional groups, the journalists, workers and farmers etc in the ongoing political dialogue. (more…)

The advisers completed their pre-dialogue talk with the political parties. The talk includes the pro-Khaleda faction of BNP with whom Election Commission didn’t like to sit. The Advisers talked among themselves and made a ‘synthesis’ of the pre-dialogue to present to the Chief Adviser. It is said that the chief adviser will address the nation but the moment has yet not come. (more…)

The advisers of the caretaker government started the preparatory talks for the dialog with the political parties though there was much hesitation and speculation regarding the dialog among different individuals, groups and political parties earlier.

AL initially responded coolly putting a bar on getting a written invitation but they ultimately attended the meeting with the advisers through a SMS call for dialogue and both the parties express their hopefulness on the outcome of the dialogue.

The advisers have started meeting and will meet with the other political parties and come to a consensus regarding different issues the nation is facing now.

(more…)

Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed has said recently that Caretaker Government (CTG) is focused on the election to be held by December 2008.

CTG, after coming to power in the backdrop of 1/11 with relief to the people and with high hopes, declared objective of holding a free and free election in corruption free environment.

By this time, CTG has taken some reform measures in the Election Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission, Public Service Commission, Judiciary etc which are told as revolutionary changes in the context of Bangladesh and Bangladesh politics.

So far, no governments of any political party took these basic measures which were written in their manifestos and frequently uttered in their speeches. It is beyond doubt that one of the major achievements of the present government is the reforms that they have made in different constitutional institutions.

Other than its failure to control hectic price of the essential commodities, the government also fail to make any reform in the political parties.

Though there was initially some attempts for reform in the political parties, that didn’t continued. Rather the reformist groups in the major political parties’ compromise with the non-reformist group in the parties.

Though the EC is trying to have a change in the structure of the political parties, so far no significant change happen. The party leaders are more interested in having the elections as early as possible and release of their leaders. At times, they are not even considering completion of new voter list as a precondition for election.

But without necessary reform and changes of attitude in the political parties, the continuity of the reform process will not be ensured as it is the political parties, who will keep the reform continued.

It is said that reform should be the concern of the political parties themselves but it is the Caretaker Government who will be responsible for ultimate success or failure for continuation of the reform process.

The ordinary citizen worried that necessary reform yet not established in the political parties without which other constitutional reforms will not be sustained.

An ordinary citizen

The government has approved a proposal of Election Commission (EC) Secretariat to free it from the control of Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

The proposed EC Secretariat ordinance will ensure independence of the secretariat under full control of the chief election commissioner (CEC), chief adviser’s Press Secretary Syed Fahim Munaim told reporters after the meeting.Fahim said the approved ordinance was sent to the law ministry for final vetting before the president can promulgate them into laws.

According to the approved EC Secretariat ordinance proposal, the secretariat will be considered as a division according to the Rules of Business under the control of the EC. It will also have its own budget as per its request and will be responsible for the appointment of its secretary and other staff.

The demand for separation of the EC Secretariat from the control of PMO always figured prominently in the proposals placed at different times by former election commissioners, civil society groups and political parties. The EC had faced difficulties in conducting polls because of interference from the executive. The EC secretary often seemed to be working against the commission and only those who would serve best the interests of the ruling party or alliance were appointed to the commission’s posts.

With a view to breaking free from the PMO grip, the current EC came up with a number of proposals on June 7 last year.

The advisory council had approved the proposals in principle on June 23 and asked the law ministry to draft an ordinance.[Abridged from Daily Star, 30 Jan 2008]

The Chief Election Commissioner when asked by the journalist said ‘It is a step towards fulfillment of our demand of an independent EC. We have submitted our proposals earlier. There are still more demands to be fulfilled’. [ATN]

An ordinary citizen

Post script: 31 Jan 2008

Only 3 out of 7 proposals forwarded by the EC were considered for the upcoming ordinance. The 4 left over proposals include a) power of the EC to frame regulations for carrying out its own functions b) to appoint EC Secretary and other executives on the requirement of the Commission c) to keep the secretariat accountable to the Commission d) to keep the power to control the manpower and to make structural change in the hands of the president.

CEC hope to discuss the matter with the Chief Adviser before the proposed ordinance is sent to the President.

Link : Prothom Alo Report
Prothom Alo Editorial

After the Chief Adviser expressed the intention of the Caretaker Government to have dialogue with the political parties in his address to the nation on 2^nd January 2008, the possibility of it become closer.

Recently in a round table conference organized by Prothom Alo, different political leaders and noble citizens put their opinion. The Talk Shows and Interviews in the TV channels are vibrant with the ideas and possible agendas on the dialogue.

One of the issues of discussion is what should be the agenda of the dialogue and placement of any precondition for dialogue from either party.

The main agenda of the dialogue would be the election- the timing, the creation of necessary environment, the lifting of emergency etc. But the discussion must not contradict with the issues that are under the Election Commission’s jurisdiction- such as registration of the political parties, precondition for registration, rules of conduct during election etc.

Rather conduct of political parties under democracy may be discussed- role of the opposition, role of government, making parliament functional, avoidance of hartal, dtrike or aboroth, stopping the student politics’ and teachers’ politics from the campus etc

Continuity of the reforms so far taken by the CTG in the Election Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission, Public Service Commission, Judiciary etc should be discussed and a consensus should have to be developed to ensure the continuity of these reforms through the next political governments.

Reform of the political parties which was expected by this time but not happened may be discussed as no true democracy one can expect from the present structure of the political parties.

The political parties are already started demanding the release of the top party leaders to participate in the dialogue but it will better be left to the judiciary to take the final decision regarding their fate.

Control of price of the essentials may come up in the discussion and suggestions may be sought how to control the prices in the present context.

Is there any scope to incorporate the political parties in running the government to give a broader base and to facilitate the transition to a political government?

Dialogue must be open one. There should be no precondition. There may not be consensus on few points but we should come out in unison on major points.

It shouldn’t be unnecessarily lengthy, must be purposeful and must produce some results which would be good for the country and for democracy.

An ordinary citizen

Tofayel Ahmed, not the politician but a local government expert wrote an interesting article in Prothom Alo on local government elections where he argued that the parliamentary election is not a precondition for holding the local government elections.

He placed this proposition when the Election Commission is thinking to defer the local body elections after the general election and to be hold by the next political government. This is in contradiction to the earlier stand declared by the election commission that the local body election would be held before the national election. At that time different political parties opposed the idea.

In an earlier post we also argued in favour of local body elections to be held under the Caretaker Government to keep it free from political party dominance and to base it on local issues and agendas. We cannot expect it in a election held under a political government.

Another point which Mr. Tofayel raised in his article is to select the chairman or mayor of the local bodies on the basis of indirect voting by the members of the union parishad or by the commissioners of the city corporations/municipalities. This sounds new to us but if it is practiced in West Bengal where democracy is more deep rooted and more representative, our Government can judge the merit of the suggestion.

Professor Mujaffar Ahmed, a leader of civil society, expressed his opinion in favour of holding the local government elections in differetn areas as soon as their tanure is over and voter listing is completed. He argued that unnecesssary extension of the tenure to the unlelected persons will have no accountability and will encourage corruption.

An ordinary citizen

link:

Parliament Election is not a precondition for local government elections[PA]

[News and reactions] Democracy is a must for registration of the political parties with the election commission. This opinion has been expressed by CEC Shamsul Huda Chy in a meeting of the Election Commission with the workers party.

He said that BNP and many other parties have no democratic rules in the party constitution and party chief has been given absolute authority to take any decision.

He commented that political parties preach for democracy but they do not practice it in their own party.

It is alleged that though the constitution of AL is more democratic in writing but in practice the authority is delegated to the chairperson to take the final decision.

Financial irregularities is also alleged against the parties as their is no clear bookkeeping, transparency and accountability for the fund.

The Election Commission is thinking of ensuring practice of democracy in the party through registering them with it. It proposes that the executive committee members will be chosen on the basis of election by the party members.

CEC said they will examine the constitution of each party before registering it.(Source: Daily Star)

Delwar Hussain, Khaleda made General Secretary of BNP said today that EC cannot dictate the constitution of a political party (ATN).

An ordinary citizen

Links:

1) NY Times on Bangladesh

2) How to achieve economic recovery

Aspiration of political leaders in our country is to become Member of Parliament In recent years more and more businessmen,, retired beaucrates, retired army officers and active or retired professionals are coming into the race.

To be an MP opens up the roads to many opportunities. He is at the same time a law maker/policy maker , virtually chief executive of his constituency and executioner of the development fund.

As the all the power and privileges are concentrated in the single hand in a sense, there is every chance of exploitation of the privilege of the position. This is in fact has given the surge of corruption by the politicians in our country.

The ordinary citizen thinks that a member of parliament should only be the law maker or policy maker. He should not be given executive assignment except for the ministers who would be the executive head of their respective ministries and the prime minister who would be the head of the state and will carry out the job as assigned by the constitution. The MP at best will play advisory role in different committees of his constituency and be member of the different committees of the parliament.

This segregation of role of law making will discourage the money hungry politicians and black moneyed businessmen and illiterates for becoming MP, on the other hand it will encourage seasoned politicians, intellectuals and literates to compete for the post. The civil society representatives also will get the opportunity to trade the path .

The other people who prefer executive status and prefer to involve with developmental activities they should be given the opportunity to participate in the local body elections at the upazilla and zilla level.

This separation of role of law making from role of political executives will make our parliament more vibrant and more effective. People will not quarrel in the parliament on political issues in the budget sessions days after days.

An ordinary citizen

The present government is taking preparation for the election of the local bodies. These are in the urban set up the election of the city corporations and municipalities, in the rural set up the election of the union parishad and upazilla parishad.

Both the Awami league and BNP expressed their willingness to participate in the local body elections.

Though at one time AL Acting president Zillur Raman said that the present government should not convene the local body elections. It is not their duty, they should only do voter list and the national election.

Recently Zillur Rahman said that now it seems that Government is determined to hold local body elections. AL has asked its workers and local leaders to organize themselves for the local body elections. They were even discussing the probable candidates for the city corporations and different aspirants are started lobbying for their expected post.

Major(Rtd) Hafizuddin also expressed their willingness to compete in the local body elections.

The ordinary citizen like to see the least political involvement in the local body elections. Government should take necessary measures to make it free from party politics. The media also take steps not to give political colour to the local body elections. The media had a tendency to tag political identity to the candidates/winners, the practice of which should be abandoned. The public also should be encouraged to judge the candidates on the competency and commitment of the candidates to the development of the local constituencies, not on his party colour.

The people must come out of the illusion of the party politics specially in judging the members /chairman of the local bodies.

An ordinary citizen

Post Script: 13 Nov 07

The LGRD Adviser has said yesterday that government is thinking of conducting the local body elections and the national elections on the same day to minimize the cost of election expenditure. This is in contrast to the earlier declaration of the Election Commission that declared that the EC will hold the local body election with the completion of the voter list in that respective area. EC was also asserted that this exercise would give the EC the necessary competency to hold the election commission. To hold both the elections on the same day is also different from the practice of earlier local body elctions.

The ordinary citizen thinks that the election date should be determined by the EC and if LGRD ministry has any alternate proposal then it should place the proposal to the EC first.

The ordinary citizen also thinks that the same day elections will hamper the none political character of the local body elections that we are thinking.

an ordinary citizen