Not the person but the process

The opposition parties have already expressed their adverse reactions and, unless unusual things change, it is possible that the nation might witness another general election akin to that of February 15, 1996. The mainstream opposition parties might possibly boycott the next general election, and in that case, a one-party election seems to loom large on the horizon. That means, inter alia, political instability and economic hardships are likely to be harsher in the days to come.

Law Minister Barrister Moudud Ahmed is right in saying that there is no provision in the constitution that calls for a consensus candidate for the post of CEC. But a barrister of his status should also bear in mind that a country is never run by the constitution alone. It embodies many conventions and norms that also matter in managing the affairs of the state. Even social norms are the domain of conventions, not of the constitution. Our misfortune is that the constitution itself is being used as scapegoat to justify an undue action.

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I remember -- and I hope I am correct -- that the party in power dubbed the February 15 general election constitutional. But the then BNP government had to backtrack in the face of national and international indignation. A mass upheaval uprooted the so-called constitutional mandate. The government had to resign. At that time, as every one of us knows, Mr Moudud Ahmed was a staunch critic of that election. He has been an activist in the movement against the then government. It is just which side of the fence you are in to justify your position.

Courtesy costs nothing and, we firmly believe, it would have been courteous on the part of the government to call upon all parties in this new selection. The initiative is not new either. Again, drawing heavily upon my own memory, I can recall that the then PM of Awami League government, Sheikh Hasina, invited the then leader of the opposition Begum Khaleda Zia to participate in the choice of the CEC. The latter, of course, declined the offer, but that does not demean the very attempt to hold dialogues with the opposition.

For a number of reasons, the Election Commission (EC) has lost its credibility. During the last few years, the CEC was found almost missing on a number of critical election moments. When rampant rigging was alleged in the mayoral elections of Rajshahi, surprisingly, the then CEC Mr MA Syed was found silent (or sent to oblivion?). To our utter dismay and despair, the Secretary of the EC stole the attention of the media. It was as if one Mr Zakaria headed the EC. A government official posted to help the EC in ensuring impartial election allegedly became a party to the alleged election engineering!

The Dhaka-10 by election -- one of the worst ever -- found the CEC absent, and in his place, an election commissioner appeared to oversee the matter. As usual, he could do nothing to arrest the menace. The outgoing CEC, Mr Syed, frankly admitted the faults with the current election process. But the fact that he failed to resolve any of them during his four year tenure also points to the pervasively partisan planks in EC.

The worst cases of election engineering had been done, unfortunately in most cases, when justices were at the pinnacle of power at the CEC. The Magura by-election, the Dhaka-10 by-election, and the February 15 general elections are some of the examples to support the contention. By that, of course, we do not want to suggest that Justice MA Aziz would have to face the same fate. After all, a fair and free election is not dependent on the person heading the EC -- justice or bureaucrat. It mostly depends on the overall election process and structural strengths and weaknesses of the EC. As the outgoing CEC belatedly believed, the EC is not independent and autonomous enough to ensure a free and fair election. The tug of war between the EC and the government on the deployment of law enforcing forces during election time -- when the latter refused to respect the request of the former - is anything but a new phenomena.

To us, the present government or the party in power missed many milestones towards credibility in creating an environment for a free and fair general election which awaits us in a year or so. The same person, Justice MA Aziz, could have been named as CEC through dialogues. We think what the opposition parties shuld mostly have pressed for is not the person but the process to reduce the role of election engineering, money, and muscle. In fact, these three vices need to be buried for a free and fair poll, for patriots to come to power, for arresting vote rigging.

Leaving the selection aside, the government should also have mobilized opposition parties to purify politics. Politics in the country had been in the hands of goons greased by money and muscle. The EC could be turned into an institution involved in cleaning up the politics of the country. India is a good example of a neighbouring country that boasts of an EC with credibility all the way and for all the time. Making the EC a credible institution is a positive sum game. If a flood of development had already swept the country -- as claimed by the party in power -- there is no reason why a flood of votes should not sweep their ballot boxes. Making EC partisan and incredible only points to the precarious state of governance and hence a fear of losing the next general election. But only time can say whether the strategy would work or not. Given knowledge of history, one is tempted to conclude that such tactics are doomed to fail.

The ominous signs also lurk elsewhere. It is being alleged that the age limit of the justices has been raised to position a particular person as head of the caretaker government. That person is believed to have a long history of political alignment with the present ruling party. Thus, with both CEC and caretaker head as own choices and the president already wearing a BNP cap, the BNP would, perhaps, need no rigorous election to go to power again! But believe it, Bangladesh is hardly a country to witness such a blueprint yielding fruits.

At least history says that. Therefore, make attempts to create an environment of free and fair elections by undertaking major reforms in the electoral process and caretaker system. The sooner it is done, the better for the country.

Abdul Bayes is a Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University.