Editorial
Don't Force People to Lose Faith in Polls
THANKS to the hardened position of both the ruling and the opposition parties, the country's electoral process itself stands largely redefined at present. Boycott, widespread violence and distressingly poor voter turnout have marked all the elections held in recent times, the Chittagong City Corporation polls being the latest on the list. Gunshots and bomb blasts throughout the day turned the port city into a veritable battle-ground. While the opposition activists engaged in a day-long brawl with the law enforcers, majority of the electorate preferred staying indoors to exercising their right to franchise. The net result has been yet another election under the present government that can be called anything but participatory. While the opposition's the boycott of process told upon the credibility of the elections, poor voter turnout essentially decimated the representative character of the local government bodies. Similar has been the case with the recent by-elections to Tangail-8, Serajganj-7, Rajshahi-1 and Kishoreganj-1 constituencies late last year.
Rationality of the opposition resolution to boycott any election under the incumbent chief election commissioner and government is indeed disputable and, in fact, this paper has vehemently criticised such a hardened position editorially on several occasion. Appallingly, in the midst of intense debate over the political position of the 'combatants', we have failed to appreciate the erosion the stand-off is causing to the country's democratic institutions. Already, the parliament has become a casualty of the prevailing deadlock.
By pushing such unilateral and violence-prone elections the government is actually taxing the electorate's patience which is manifestly running out. The poor turnout in successive polls is a proof of that. It could easily have worked on ways to woo the opposition into the electoral fray through negotiations. Towards that end, the first step should have been deferment of the polls. In fact, the Election Commission had reportedly advised the government likewise. But the latter didn't budge and the one-sided elections and hartal were forced upon the Chittagonians. We are afraid that if the trend continues it will eventually leave the country with an electorate indifferent to the electoral process itself. The question is: whether the politicians are aware of that.
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