Editorial
Party nominations for Jatiyo Sangsad polls
Expectations of change in politics belied?
THE major political parties have announced the names of their nominees for this month's general elections. Though the nomination process is yet to be completed, we feel we are now in a position to make some initial comments on some of the trends already manifested by the nominations.
The Awami League has by and large upheld the process of grassroots involvement in the awarding of party nominations. The same, however, cannot be said about the BNP, where the party leadership has apparently chosen to circumvent the grassroots approach by dispatching teams comprising senior leaders to the constituencies to gauge conditions. Decisions on nominations have seemingly been made at the top levels of the party leadership. The party has sought to explain away its approach by referring to the shortage of time vis-à-vis consulting its workers at the local level. That explanation is not good enough and some very legitimate questions can surely arise about the way the party has skirted around or even flouted the relevant provisions of the RPO regarding nominations.
Then comes the matter of new, young politicians receiving party nominations. The good news here is that the fresh faces are in the age range of 30-40 years. The Awami League has fielded as many as forty new faces for the polls. In the case of the BNP, the number of new faces is known to be around twenty. Nevertheless, the very real change that the nation has been looking forward to has quite been belied by a grant of nominations to the relatives of those who have been convicted and other individuals of dubious credentials. This is more so of the BNP, which has even taken the disturbing step of giving the party nomination to a charge-sheeted accused in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally.
Against such a background of political wheeling and dealing, the hopes that the nation has entertained about a fresh new start in politics have apparently taken a beating. This is in sharp contrast to what we had come to believe in the past two years about fundamental, positive changes being brought about by the parties in their approach to national politics.
With such a factor as the BNP's asking its nominees to give an undertaking that they will abide by the party decision if the party eventually decides to opt out of the December 29 polls is rather distracting. In recent weeks, major concessions have been made by both the government and the Election Commission to accommodate the BNP's demands. We are, therefore, rather mystified by the attitude of the party, indeed by the thought of what it could be hinting at by such action even as the country looks forward to a speedy restoration of democratic government.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments