Party politics still far from democratic

The July Charter’s promise of transforming Bangladesh’s political culture through democratic reforms and greater accountability remains largely unfulfilled, with political parties continuing to struggle with violence, internal conflicts, elitist leadership and a lack of financial transparency, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman has said.

Despite public expectations following the July mass uprising, political parties have made little visible progress in ensuring internal democracy, developing grassroots leadership and making their financial activities transparent, he observed.

At least 746 people were killed and 46,351 injured in 4,280 incidents of political violence across the country between January 2013 and August 2026, according to a TIB study released on Sunday.

The study found that clashes between rival political parties and factional conflicts within individual parties remained major sources of political violence.

Of the total casualties, 428 people were killed and 27,860 injured in clashes between political parties. Another 318 were killed and 18,491 injured in 1,926 incidents of internal party conflicts during the period.

The research also recorded 46 deaths and 3,059 injuries in political violence between January and August this year.

The violence largely involved activists of the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), although Jamaat-e-Islami, the Jatiya Party and the National Citizens Party (NCP) were also involved in some incidents.

Iftekharuzzaman made the observations while responding to journalists after the publication of the research report, titled Institutional Good Governance in Political Parties in Bangladesh, at TIB’s Dhanmondi office in Dhaka.

“The expectation was that the July mass uprising would bring an end to, or at least a transformation of, this kind of politics. But in reality, we are not seeing such changes,” he said.

He noted that political violence and factional rivalries were longstanding features of Bangladesh’s political landscape, particularly since the 1990 mass uprising, as competition for political power increasingly shaped political culture.

He also expressed concern over the dominance of family-based and elite leadership in political organisations, saying inadequate grassroots participation and limited representation of women and people from diverse professional and social backgrounds were restricting opportunities for ordinary citizens to emerge as political leaders.

“One of the fundamental objectives of political parties should be to ensure the participation and representation of ordinary people,” he said.

However, family-based and elitist leadership structures continued to dominate political organisations, leaving little room for grassroots leadership to develop.

Such practices, he said, were incompatible with democratic principles and called for more participatory and inclusive party structures.

The study identified constitutional inconsistencies in seven political parties: the Jatiya Party, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, Khelafat Majlish, Bangladesh Muslim League and Bangladesh Nationalist League (BNL).

Explaining why TIB could not collect information from 10 of the 42 political parties approached for the research, Iftekharuzzaman said the organisation had made repeated attempts through written correspondence, telephone calls and visits to party offices.

However, the parties failed to respond. The list included the BNP, Jatiya Party and Awami League.

On allegations of nomination trading and excessive election expenditure, he said information about financial transactions surrounding candidate nominations had been incorporated into the research following discussions with political party representatives.

Some representatives indicated that a candidate might have to spend as much as Tk50 crore to contest an election, even at the grassroots level, he said.

He described the gap between political parties’ expenditure declarations submitted to the Election Commission and their actual spending as a serious concern.

“The opportunity to know the sources of money and who is financing political activities is very limited. As most transactions take place informally, it is difficult to verify the legitimacy and actual sources of the funds,” he said.

He stressed that the objective should not be to prevent political parties from raising funds but to ensure that their financing arrangements were transparent and lawful.
“Political parties need substantial financial resources to run their activities.

Therefore, rather than preventing fundraising, it is essential to bring the sources of money and the fundraising process under transparent and legal arrangements,” he said.

He urged the Election Commission, lawmakers and relevant authorities to reform existing laws or introduce new legislation to establish a transparent framework for political party financing.

Regarding the violence statistics, Iftekharuzzaman clarified that TIB had used data from Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), covering deaths and injuries resulting from clashes between political parties and factional conflicts within individual parties.

Casualties during the July mass uprising were excluded because participants included ordinary citizens as well as political activists, making the figures incomparable with casualties from conflicts among political parties.

Asked why the Election Commission had not acted despite being aware of irregularities involving political parties, he said many of the problems were already known to the relevant authorities.

The research aimed to bring them into formal policy discussions, engage political parties and underline the need for reforms.

“Why action is not being taken under the existing laws is a question that political parties and the Election Commission themselves must answer,” he said.

The research covered 32 of the 42 political parties approached by TIB, including registered and unregistered organisations. The remaining 10 did not provide information despite repeated attempts.

The report also highlighted irregular party conferences, weak financial management, ineffective disciplinary mechanisms and inadequate women’s participation in political leadership.

It recommended stronger legal safeguards, regular financial audits, public disclosure of party income and expenditure, greater grassroots participation and effective action against party leaders and activists involved in criminal activities.