Staff Reporter :
The National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) jointly published a 29-page final report on January 16, assessing the January 7 parliamentary elections in Bangladesh.
The report, prepared by their Technical Assessment Mission (TAM), highlighted various concerns regarding the election process.
It noted incidents of state interference, ruling party dominance, and political polarization that undermined the election’s quality.
One significant issue raised was the mass arrest of opposition members from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which was perceived as politically motivated and raised doubts about the impartiality of law enforcement during the election period.
Despite a decrease in physical and online violence compared to previous elections, the report highlighted ongoing tensions and instances of violence involving state actors, ruling party members, and the opposition.
The TAM acknowledged the government’s efforts to enhance security during the election period, including increased funding, deployment of additional security personnel, and the establishment of coordination units to oversee security measures.
However, it emphasized that these actions did not fully mitigate the challenges posed by political polarization, shrinking civic space, and restrictions on freedoms of expression and association.
Overall, while some progress was made in promoting election security, the report underscored the need for broader reforms to address systemic issues such as political polarization and the erosion of democratic norms in Bangladesh.
Still, many stakeholders made credible accusations that state security services and other government institutions at times unevenly enforced election rules to favour the ruling Awami League (AL), it mentioned.
Regarding election violence, the report said, the election violence by non-state actors took two primary forms.
The first was between competing candidates and supporters. Campaign-driven election violence correlated with the competitiveness of a constituency and was typically between AL backed candidates and AL-affiliated independent candidates, although former BNP candidates were also targeted.
Incidents of this violence reportedly entailed clashes between groups of supporters, attacks on campaign processions, destruction or arson of campaign offices, verbal threats, and vandalism or arson of property, it said.
The second form of non-state election was driven by the opposition’s boycott effort. While the opposition consistently called for nonviolence, its strategy of rallies, blockades, and strikes to prevent the election descended at times into violence, including incidents of arson, physical assault, vandalism, intimidation, and the death of a police officer, it added.
Apart from party violence, the report also found that marginalised groups, specifically women and Hindus, also experienced electoral violence while journalists also faced election violence from the ruling party and opposition during campaign events and protests.
TAM also found that the media houses followed self-censorship in fear of government retaliation by the Cyber Security Act.
“This report provides a valuable roadmap for more peaceful elections in Bangladesh’s future,” said Manpreet Singh Anand, NDI’s Regional Director for the Asia-Pacific.
“Leaders across the sociopolitical spectrum — including political parties, the government, and civil society – have a responsibility to reform the rules, practices, and norms of electoral politics toward nonviolence, ” he further said.
While Johanna Kao, IRI’s Senior Director for the Asia-Pacific Division said, “Election violence is a key deterrent of citizen participation.”
“For Bangladesh’s elections to be fully inclusive and participatory, all sides need to prioritise nonviolent politics,” she said.
To support and strengthen democratic institutions in Bangladesh ahead of future elections, the TAM has put forward 28 recommendations to combat election violence, which are all actors — including political parties, government institutions, civil society, and citizens – should play an active role in reforming the rules, practices, and norms of electoral politics toward nonviolence.
The independence and oversight of Bangladesh’s elections can be improved with new mechanisms, including establishing a code of conduct for security personnel and updating legal frameworks to provide prompt and independent adjudication and review of election violence-related cases.
The report also recommended for civil liberties and fundamental freedoms through the enforcement of existing laws, civil society should work to ease community tensions, political leaders should inculcate a culture of nonviolence in their parties and hold members accountable for election violence.
Though the government playing the flute of happiness for winning the election for the fourth consecutive terms and different countries are expressing their desire to work with the government, but the United States and the European Union have not endorsed the election as free and fair.
The EU on March 8 stated that the 12th parliamentary elections has failed to meet some important international democratic standards.
Meanwhile, on March 15, US Ambassador Peter Hass said, “Prior to the January 7, 2024 parliamentary election, the United States advocated publicly for a free and fair election that would reflect the democratic aspirations of the people of Bangladesh. This did not happen.”
“The United States still cares deeply about democracy – in Bangladesh and elsewhere. Quite simply, we believe democracy is the best way to achieve enduring economic prosperity that serves all of a country’s people,” he said.
TAM in its report also mentioned that in an effort to promote democratic reforms, the United States sanctioned Bangladesh’s security forces, announced a visa restriction policy, and called for free and fair elections.
