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UZ POLLS

Winners are losers

Farid Hossain
THERE are occasions when the winners end up as losers. This has been the case in the just-concluded upazila elections staggered through five weeks. The ruling Awami League has come from behind to win 225 posts of upazila chairman, leaving its arch rival BNP far behind with 157 posts. Jamaat, facing a campaign that the Islamist party be banned for its role in the war crimes committed during Bangladesh's 1971 Liberation War, has done fairly well getting 35 chairman posts. In comparison, the Jatiya Party of H.M. Ershad has been routed, getting only three posts.
In the final count, the Awami League has emerged as the big winner. Ironically the victory, tainted with credible allegations of vote stealing, ballot box stuffing, capture of polling stations by driving away the rivals, and stamping ballots in favour of its candidates, has made more dents in the credibility of the power the Awami League is holding after the largely uncontested January 5 general election that brought in the current 10th Parliament.
There was expectation that the Awami League would use the upazila elections as an opportunity to win the hearts of the people and enhance its image as a party that believes in people's right to exercise their right to vote in a free and fair atmosphere. Even though the upazila election is a localised affair, it assumed national importance with voters looking forward to take part in the festival of vote, which they could not do in the January' parliamentary election. The participation of BNP and its main ally Jamaat had taken that hope to a higher level.
The expectation that the elections would be largely free and fair and peaceful was based on the Awami League government's commendable role in ensuring fair elections to the city corporations held before the parliamentary election. The high hopes were smashed by the grassroots activists and supporters of the Awami League with indulgence and, in some cases, patronisation of the central leadership. The oldest and largest party of the country, which led the country's democratic movements and the independence war, has committed hara-kiri.
The upazila elections had been fairly credible and peaceful in the first two of the five phases. In the early phases the BNP fared better than the Awami League. Even in losing, the Awami League government had been seen as winner because of its respect for democracy and its basic principle of allowing the people to choose their representatives freely and without any intimidation. Until then, the situation seemed to have been under the control of the top leadership of the party and the wiser elements within the party. The trouble began in the third-phase. Losing their temper, the grassroots activists unleashed a campaign of free-style voting, allowing their rivals in BNP to follow them in a similar manner.
The voting in many places had plunged into chaos. A key feature of the polls in the third, fourth and fifth phases was the completion of voting within two or three hours of the opening of the polling stations. The polling officials watched helplessly and, in some cases, were forced to help the perpetrators.
The role played by the Election Commission (EC) helped make matters worse. It has within its jurisdiction the army, Border Guards Bangladesh and law enforcement agencies to stop violence and vote stealing. But the EC was busy making empty sounds rather than doing something. Sorry to say, the EC has really proved to a paper tiger. Led by acting Chief Election Commissioner Abdul Mobarak in the absence of CEC Rakibuddin Ahmed, who is on vacation, the EC has got itself mired in a controversy with the BNP by making some undesirable comments about the opposition party. The credibility of the EC has been under a scanner since the January general election. The recent remarks of the election commissioners about the BNP are sure going to make it more controversial.
The bottom line: The ruling Awami League has won, but it lost a golden opportunity to salvage a slice of the credibility it lost in the January 5 election.
The EC has received another big blow to its credibility too.
The writer is former Bureau Chief, AP.