Commentary: Foolproof constitutional arrangement denying people free election to choose their govt can never be right

–Mainul Hosein

Recently the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Abdul Momen was invited to Washington to have a meeting with the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In his very brief statement, Blinken mentioned the good long relationship between the two countries and America’s willingness to continue working together with Bangladesh.
But it was clear that the sole purpose of this meeting was to emphasise to him, and through him to the government of Bangladesh, on how anxious the US government is about seeing the plan is laid out to make sure the coming election would be free and fair.
Abdul Momen, however, avoided talking on the election issue in his own wise way in his speech.
This is because Bangladesh government has constructed a foolproof constitutional scheme
to deny the people free election by brazenly rigging the election through forcing the government officials to cooperate with the scheme.
So there is no need to wait. The vicious blueprint in use for making Bangladesh a one-party state is no secret. Elections are now held only to show how helpless our people are. Unluckily, the weaknesses of our leaders are also being exploited by those who can exploit them.
The election is not a party affair. It is a vile conspiracy against the people not to allow them to vote in a free election.
The Constitution has been changed requiring the election to be held under the government in power. The parliament will not be dissolved for the election. The same government in power shall continue to be in power for three months after the election is over. So winning the election by the opposition is impossible.
Thus the people are denied free election. It is to be realised that making impossible free election means there is no system of election at work. Winning an election under this system cannot justify the claim of election victory.
Those of us within the country or outside are urging for a long time to have an election free and fair so that the people can decide peacefully whether they want to change the existing government or not.
The danger of dictatorship is that it survives through violence and ends in violence leaving the country devastated and in the chaos without a government.
It was at the insistence of Awami League itself the system of election-time caretaker government was accepted by the then BNP government. Then Awami League was in the opposition and asserted that a non-party caretaker government was imperative for fair election.
But the same Awami League now in power has changed the Constitution to abolish the election time non-party caretaker government requiring the election to be held by keeping their government in power.
The people are anxiously hoping for a positive role of the international community to save them from the madness of violence. The signs of restlessness among the people must not be missed while desperation of the government not to face the people in a free election to be taken with all seriousness.
The United States and the European Union are already actively engaged in our people’s cause of peace. The people are not alone and abandoned for the universal right to live in peace under the government of their choosing through a free election.