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Timetable for political party registration

M. Sakhawat Hussain
In the aftermath of the much talked-about onesided election on January 5, 2014, it is in public perception that the Eleaion Commission (EC) could not establish good, acceptable eleaoral governance. Whatever little that was achieved in the past witnessed sharp decline. Even the recently held upazilla and union eleaions have shown lack of voters' confidence in the system. Reports say that voter turnout was minimal, and that sufficiently proves lack of interest in voting and indicates declining faith in the EC, which it has, I would like to believe, taken note of.
There are serious misgivings about the performance of the institution that is entrusted with the task of ensuring free and fair elections at all levels under Article 119 of the Constitution, which has been further aggravated by the EC announcement that it would not register any political party before 2018.
The aim of a political party is not only to propagate its ideology and programmes to achieve the ultimate goal, i.e. ruling the country for a specified period as per the constitution, but to also implement those through ascending to power with people's mandate. To achieve that, a political party has to participate in elections as a body. As stated earlier, though particularly not mentioned in the constitution, the EC recognises political parties of the country as main stakeholders.
To establish a lawful relation with the parties as per RPO Chapter VI A, political party registration was made mandatory. Registration comes into play for elections only, and does not in any way restria citizens' right to form associations at their will. Registration of political parties is, however, not unique to Bangladesh. It is there in many advanced democracies where political parties are legitimised through provisions of the constitution. On the other hand, where the constitution is silent, a separate law enables political parties to participate in elections through registration. For Bangladesh, the concept is new.
However, the aim of mandatory registration is multiple. One, it establishes a cliental relationship with the EC and political parties. Two, it helps parties establish contacts with grassroots level workers whom they intend to represent by participating in elections. Three, it checks mushroom growth of political parties that have the aim of corrupting the political and eleaoral system.
Be that as it may, the above mentioned Chapter of the RPO and rules made for the purpose are not to create hindrance to the growth of political parties, but to encourage and assist more and more parties to organise to face the electorate. However, parties interested in participating in eleaions have to register under certain conditions. Once the conditions are met a party has the right to be registered. What a new party may need is sufficient time to prepare and propagate its ideology to face the voters, and such time must be provided by allowing aspiring parties to register well before the next election. Since party registration is one of the jobs of the EC as laid out in the RPO, it is their solemn duty to see that political parties are given enough time to prepare for facing the voter. The provision however does not mention a time limit for such registration. Thus, the EC must make a policy to specify period of notification as it exists, like in the case of yearly updating of voter list.
In a recent newspaper report it was said that a timetable has been set for next registration of new parties, which is to be in 2018. That means no new party can get registration even after fulfilling all conditions laid by the RPO before 2018, i.e. 4 years from now. Question is why does a party have to wait for 4 years to register, though the Rule says EC has to issue notice for such registration? Notification, like voter list updating, should be made every year with the aim of being prepared to conduct election at short notice; it could be a midterm term eleaion. It is in the air that in the back-drop of the flawed election of January 5, the government may decide for such a snap election much before EC's stipulated time. If it is true, such onesided decision of the EC could be misconstrued, something that it can ill afford.
Though no time limit is set by Registration Rule 2008/11 August 26, 2008 Article 3, the spirit of the rule must be interpreted in a positive manner. Such a long interval set by the EC would only cast doubt in the minds of people under the prevailing political limbo. It is, therefore, suggested that registration of political parties should be at least an annual affair, if not biannual. The EC would also need considerable time to scrutinise the documents asked for, and for making ground verification of the applicant as per the provision of the relevant law. The EC must, therefore, workout a permanent timetable for registration of political parties and publish it as notification. Otherwise, such denial would further create faith deficiency. And it is faith in the institution which is one of the important guiding principles of holding a credible election.
The writer is a columnist and former Election Commissioner.