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ELECTORAL REFORMS

CEC to give proposals to president tomorrow

Shakhawat Liton
The outgoing Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) MA Syed will submit a five-point reform proposal to the president on Saturday, aiming to strengthen the Election Commission (EC) and the electoral system.
The proposals include setting up of an independent secretariat for the EC and introduction of electronic voting machine.
Syed will also suggest fresh rules on the deployment of army and formation of electoral enquiry committees for the local government elections.
The CEC will meet President Iajuddin Ahmed on Saturday, the last working day of his five-year tenure that will expire on Sunday (May 22), and submit the reform proposal which he finalised this week.
"We want to improve the existing electoral system. I will submit the proposal to the president and a copy of the proposal will be sent to the
prime minister also for the government's consideration," Syed told journalists yesterday at the EC yesterday.
The proposals are --- an independent secretariat for the EC and a separate cadre service for its secretariat, introduction of electronic voting machine and electronic voter roll, army deployment in the city corporation and municipality polls, and introduction of electoral enquiry committee system in these polls.
The proposals are going to be placed at a time when the mainstream opposition parties and the civil society are calling for reforms in the caretaker government system and the EC. The opposition parties are also seeking an independent secretariat for the EC.
WHY iNDEPENDENT sECRETARiAT
The EC has stressed the need for an independent secretariat as it on numerous occasions in the past had faced difficulties in conducting polls freely due to interference from the executive.
The EC put the reform issues high on its agenda after Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) polls of May 9 had revealed some fundamental flaws in polls management.
The secretary to the EC secretariat did not attend any of the meetings preparatory to the CCC polls. The EC faced difficulties monitoring the polls.
There were reports of a conflict between the CEC and SM Zakaria, the EC secretary, who has been avoiding EC meetings for about a year.
The CEC had requested the government to withdraw Zakaria from the EC secretariat. The government did not respond to the call, instead it granted Zakaria a few months' extension after his tenure ended in last March.
REFORMS FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT POLLS
The existing electoral rules allow deployment of army personnel only in the parliamentary elections. There is no provision for army deployment in the local government polls.
The government however deploys army to maintain law and order in the city corporation elections, which has become a convention.
During the last Union Parishad (UP) elections in 2002, a rift developed between the government and the EC as the government refused to deploy army in the elections.
The EC will have legal power to recommend army deployment in the local government elections once the fresh rules are formulated.
The EC has also observed that in the absence of electoral enquiry committees the EC cannot take actions against irregularities in the local government elections. The enquiry committees play a vital role in checking such irregularities.
DISCORD IN EC
The CEC's move for the EC reforms has been a matter of discord between the election commissioners. Election Commissioner Safiur Rahman apparently avoided the move by not attending any EC meeting on the reform proposal.
Sources said Safiur may join a UNDP project in Afghanistan to work on electoral reform as an expert for six months.
Another Election Commissioner M Munsef Ali yesterday told journalists that he did not know that any reform proposal was finalised. He however admitted that they discussed the proposals at the EC meeting on April 16.
The CEC said the commission has approved the reform proposal and it is now final.
Sources said an election commissioner yesterday asked the CEC to discuss the reform issue at an EC meeting, but the CEC declined to discuss it again.