Editorial
Election of a truly world standard
It has indeed done us proud
By holding a free, fair and credible election under probing international gaze, Bangladesh has fulfilled the fundamental precondition to the functioning of a parliamentary democratic system in a decisive way. Setting aside the verdict at the polls squarely reflecting the popular will, the process through which the election was conducted and the outcome reached does stand out. Professionalism, transparency and credibility have been the hallmarks of the ninth parliamentary elections. The minor technical difficulties aside, the main election undertaking has been completed to the satisfaction of international standards. Such is the essence of the observations made by the foreign election monitoring groups at the end of their mission. Some of them have even privately confided that this was the best election they have ever observed.
The kind of favourable impressions they are going back to their countries with, will surely go a long way to brighten Bangladesh's image as a model of competency among developing countries practicing democracy. In one word, the way Monday's general election has been completed has done us proud. The sheer magnitude of planning, organisation and orchestration that went into the making of such a massive electoral operation does immense credit to the election commission, especially to the leadership of the chief election commissioner and his colleagues. In a race with time, the EC responded to the challenges of delimiting constituencies, sorting out candidates, reprinting ballots to respect court verdict, setting up polling booths and distributing transparent ballot boxes and papers all over the country with clock-work precision. Actually, the successful completion of daunting logistical and operational tasks involving faultless coordination among the EC, government, local administrations, election officials, judiciary, armed forces, police and other ancillary forces demonstrates the exemplary commitment and competence of all concerned. Of course, the backbone to a credible electoral exercise was provided by the authentic voter list with photographs, and for this, let's repeat, the credit goes to the armed forces.
Finally, the promptitude and transparency with which the election results were announced is a new, highly praiseworthy phenomenon. Given the 87 percent turnout from amongst 81 million voters, the fact that the poll results were available in the early hours of the day following the election, the efficiency of vote counting, tabulation, and the transmission of results stands out in bold relief.
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