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Bangladesh JS Polls

Indian media critical of poor participation

Our Correspondent, New Delhi
The Indian media yesterday commented on the just-concluded Bangladesh polls, saying the legitimacy of the election can hardly be questioned, but a majority of the candidates' winning without contest “dilutes" the quality of the results.
It also asked the Indian government to prod Sheikh Hasina's government to reach out to the opposition, and begin a dialogue process “so that a new political compact can be forged".
In an editorial,TheTimesoflndiasaid: "The fact that 153 of the total of 300 seats up for grabs saw the winning candidates win without any contest dilutes the quality of the results. ”
"That said, the legitimacy of the polls can hardly be questioned...the election was conducted as per provisions of the Bangladeshi constitution. Neither does the opposition demand for a caretaker regime administered polls - the main reason for its boycott - cut ice."
"... had the BNP-led opposition lent greater weight to the polls through its participation, it may have emerged victorious. ”
"Economic and social development demands that constitutionalism triumphs over political enmity. For this, both Awami League and BNP must talk to each other", the newspaper commented.
Referring to Hasina's offer to hold another election by dissolving the 10th parliament should the BNP abjure violence and choose to participate, the daily said: "India, with its considerable stakes in Bangladesh, can serve as an honest broker between the two parties and reach out to BNP to persuade it to take the offer".
The Hindustan Times editorial said that with just 22 per cent polling, "there are concerns about the validity of the (electoral) process".
"For the time being Sheikh Hasina and her party have emerged victorious and this is good news for India - under her rule Dhaka-New Delhi ties have strengthened, especially in boostingtrade and tackling terrorism."
An editorial of The Indian Express on Monday said the general election in Bangladesh "cannot be isolated from the bigger battle that has raged in the streets ever since the Sheikh Hasina government initiated the war crimes trial process".
The editorial also said Khaleda Zia "needs to rethink her alliance with the Jamaat, the continuance of which can only further damage Bangladesh".
The Asian Age newspaper in an editorial on Monday said more than half the seats in parliament went to the ruling Awami League uncontested, which had straightaway made the election result unrepresentative.
"In order to head off any plans Jamaat-e-Islami may have had to disrupt the election, it may have been useful if Prime Minister Hasina had acceded to Begum Zia’s demand to have a caretaker government to conduct the election...If Jamaat and BNP had still sought to impede fair elections, the answerability would
lie with Begum Zia -- both in the eyes of the country and the world, ” it said.
EVERYONE LOST IN BANGLADESH POLLS: BLOOMBERG
The vote was marred by bloodshed, boycotted by the opposition, and notable mostly for a dearth of actual voters. The results reveal only that the country's bitterly divided political parties need to try again.
Running largely unopposed, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed's Awami League had won a majority of seats even before polls opened. Yet no government that forms out of these elections - which Hasina's own son admitted were "half-baked" - will ever command solid domestic or international support.
At the same time, the opposition Bangladesh National Party, led by Hasina's arch-rival Khaleda Zia, has undermined its own legitimacy in recent months with a campaign of disruptive strikes and business shutdowns. Its Islamist allies have staged deeply unpopular attacks on civilians as well as political workers; hundreds have died in political violence in the last year.
Since the 1990s, Hasina and Zia have traded power relatively peacefully, despite their vicious differences, and during that time, Bangladesh has reduced poverty and improved health and education. Life expectancy now stands at 69.2 years - - almost 31/2 years more than India, where per capita GDP is almost double that of Bangladesh. Infant mortality levels have dropped in Bangladesh, too, while women's participation in the workforce — particularly in the critical garment industry — has risen drastically.
Political chaos threatens all these gains.
That prospect should focus minds in Dhaka and outside. New elections are needed, as even members of the ruling party acknowledge privately. The opposition refuses to take part unless a neutral caretaker government oversees the country during the run-up to the polls, as was required by the constitution before the Awami League amended it in 2011.
The details matter less than getting the two sides to sit down together soon, before the violence that claimed at least 22 lives on Sunday spirals further out of control.
India, which has sided with the ruling party in its battle against Islamists, has sway with Hasina, while leaders of the powerful garment industry should be able to make clear to Zia the cost of continued unrest. Their message to the party leaders should be stark: Find a more civil way to carry on their competition. Bangladesh has lost enough.