Special Correspondent :
Public interest and party discipline are often sidelined in elections, with one-party dominance and family-oriented power grabs becoming prevalent in local elections.
The link between power and wealth gain is evident among public representatives who have been in power for a long time.
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) highlighted these issues while releasing their analysis and observations of the affidavits of candidates in the 6th Upazila Parishad Election-2024 Second Phase at a press conference in the city’s Dhanmondi on Sunday.
The TIB report criticized the local government system for neglecting public interest, emphasizing that candidates often prioritize personal wealth accumulation over serving the public.
According to TIB, there exists an unhealthy competition among candidates aspiring for public office, viewing it as an opportunity to amass income and assets.
The findings and observations from the TIB analysis were unveiled at the press conference by Ikramul Haque Evan, TIB’s Assistant Coordinator of Outreach and Communication.
Executive Director of TIB, Dr. Iftekharuzzaman, noted that women’s participation in the elections is under 2%, while businesspersons dominate the candidacy.
He said that one-party dominance and family-oriented power grabs are now prevalent in local elections, with a clear link between power and wealth gain for long-serving public representatives.
“Long-serving public representatives clearly link power and wealth. Incumbents significantly increase their wealth, leading to unhealthy competition for public representation.
Often, the focus shifts from public welfare to wealth accumulation. Authorities show little interest in verifying or investigating the unusual wealth increases declared in affidavits,” he said.
Dr. Iftekharuzzaman pointed out that both public interest and party discipline are often sidelined in elections. “In both phases, we noticed that party directives are disregarded by both major political parties.
These parties struggle to maintain discipline as the primary objective of local representatives is to secure the license to amass wealth.
Consequently, the election competition becomes unhealthy, undemocratic, and self-centered, and it is progressively distancing itself from the public and their welfare,” he observed.
According to the second phase analysis, the income of one chairman candidate skyrocketed by 10,900% in the past five years, and the highest increase over the last decade was 5,336%.
Movable assets saw an even greater increase, with the highest being 11,666% in the last five years. When it comes to the growth of movable assets over the past five years, local government representatives have outpaced national election candidates.
In the national election, the highest wealth increase for a candidate was 3,065%, whereas a chairman candidate in the same period increased their wealth by more than 11,000%. Furthermore, four candidates in the Upazila Election own more land than the legal limit of 100 bigha or 33 acres, indicating a violation of property ownership laws.
In their scrutiny of the candidates’ affidavits for the second phase of the Upazila Parishad polls, TIB underscored a significant trend: incumbent public representatives experienced a marked increase in income and assets over the past five years compared to new candidates.
This pattern suggests a direct correlation between holding political power and wealth accumulation.
An analysis of the last decade elections showed that incumbent candidates exhibited substantial growth in both income (540.68% on average) and movable assets (211.98%).
Conversely, first-time candidates experienced a 56.47% uptick in income while observing a decrease of 45.44% in movable assets over the same period. On average, incumbent candidates saw their income rise by 140.61% over the last five years, whereas new candidates witnessed a 77.44% increase.
The analysis revealed a similar trend in movable assets, with incumbent candidates averaging a 231.62% increase, while new candidates showed a 100.33% rise. Notably, not only did the candidates enhance their own financial standings, but their spouses and dependents also showcased similar upward trajectories in income and assets.
The TIB analysis revealed a significant presence of businesspersons in local government elections.
Compared to the 4th election, the 6th election saw an 8% increase in businessperson candidates, bringing the total to 57%. The breakdown is as follows: 70.51% of chairman candidates, 68.73% of vice chairman candidates, and 29.26% of female vice chairman candidates are businesspersons.
Interestingly, 51.63% of female vice chairman candidates identified as homemakers, and among these homemakers, 14.55% earn a living from businesses, the report said. The analysis also revealed that 42% of all candidates reported an income less than BDT 3.5 lakh, indicating they do not have taxable incomes. In contrast, only 10% of candidates reported an income exceeding BDT 16.5 lakh.