Authenticity of voter list, local govt and fair election

Identity of voter and fair polling must be ensured through a foolproof system

Local self-government: There is now a greater realisation of the importance of a scientific local self-government system as stipulated in the constitution. Whether the local government will be of two or three tiers is to be resolved once for all and broad guidelines provided in the constitution, scrapping vague laws.

Though, the concept of Union Parishad, Upazilla and Zilla parishad is well understood in Bangladesh, it has not been established as a functional institution. The members of the Parliament apprehend that there might develop a clash of interest between them and the chairmen of the local bodies, who are chief executives of their respective entities. This apprehension is baseless in that the members of parliament are supposed to be full-time law makers at national level, while the chairmen are supposed to be full-time executives of their local entities, delivering service to the people according to the broad legal framework determined by the constitution and relevant laws of the parliament.

The chairmen and the members of local government council/deliberative assembly are supposed to be paid handsomely. Though the population of the country of about 140 million is large, the area of about 147,570 sq.km is quite small to justify 6 divisions, 64 districts, 507 upazillas and about 4,484 unions, if we decide reasonably high pay for the elected members. If the present Union, Upazilla and Zilla system is to be retained, the number of Zilla may be reduced to about 25, Upazilla to about 200 and Union to about 3,000. A serious thought may be given to the number of tiers and the number of local self-government bodies. There is a scope of reducing the number of tiers into two. Upazilla may even be abolished by increasing the size of the Unions.

As the number of municipalities are increased, larger union size will curtail the cost of administration. The total employees of local government will be much higher than that of the central government, which may help in conducting election at much lower cost.

Functions of local self government: The duties of the local bodies like Zilla, Upazilla, Union parishad, city wards, and municipalities are supposed to include :-

1) Registration of all citizens within their jurisdiction with photographs, fingerprints, retinal image and other necessary information that does not impinge upon their constitutionally guaranteed privacy. (No information may be recorded without the knowledge of the person concerned), 2) registration of birth, death, marriage and divorce, 3) health insurance, healthcare and basic health check service, 4) generation of productive employment, 5) provision of social security, such as unemployment allowance, old age allowance, child care allowance, re-education and training for the unemployed, soft loan to small-business entrepreneurs, national pension, etc., 6) local infrastructure building, setting up of schools, community centres, libraries, sports facilities, parks and recreational facilities, 7) administration of compulsory education, 8) provision of agricultural extension service, 9) maintenance of public safety, risk management and disaster counter measures, 10) collection of taxes (including automobile tax), 11) waste disposal, 12) regulation and supervision of small businesses, 13) protection of environment, 14) local police administration, 15) inheritance recording, 16) issuance of citizenship, birth-, residence-, marriage- and divorce-certificates, 17) enactment of local laws, and various other service under their own responsibility and also as agents of the central government. The personal information about any citizen shall not be divulged to any third party without the authority of law. If the local government performs all their functions neutrally and properly, the citizens will enjoy improved social life in peace.

Authentic and up-to-date voter list: The local government election is supposed to be non-party based in principle, as such this institution is always ready to provide authentic, official, up-to-date voter list as well as the list of people qualifying for old-age allowance and other social benefits, based on established and verifiable records. The date of birth in the citizen registration will determine the voting age. If any citizen changes his address of residence he shall be obliged to report the change to the corresponding new local government office within a stipulated period of, say, 15 or 30 days. Anybody reaching the voting age, as may be determined by law, shall be obliged to get a new replacement of his old citizen registration card which shall serve as voter ID as well. Similarly any person reaching the age of 60 or the age recognised for old-age benefit shall get his citizen registration card replaced with a new one to claim his entitlement.

As local self government has not yet been operating with all its desired functions and next parliamentary election is not too far, the preparation of citizen registration cards serving as voter ID with photograph can be started right away with those who are going to attain the age of 18 on January 1, 2006, which shall be delivered to them, say, a few days before their reaching the age of 18 or the age of voter eligibility. The citizen registration cards of other citizens or new voters can be prepared accordingly and delivered to persons concerned directly. After some years, the system will be established firmly and confusion of voter list will disappear.

As the election for Union Parishad, Municipality, cities and wards are already completed, there is no hurdle in launching the process. Time is definitely a constraint, but local college students, school teachers and civilian volunteers can be mobilised, supported by Election Commission, the government agencies placed under EC and willing civil society. The local government members shall provide active help in recording information correctly endorsed by the representatives of EC and elected local government body representatives. The EC has already asked for a fund of Tk.146.29 crore for the purpose.

Fair election: Even if the voter list is flawless, the identification of voters is perfect, the election itself may not be fair if the voters cannot cast their votes freely for the person they choose without fear, intimidation or allurement of money or blessings. The electoral law limits the election campaign period to 15 days or so and campaign fund to five lac taka which may appear to be too low and alleged to be exceeded by many candidates. The vote buying is prohibited. The qualification criteria are stipulated in the constitution. The electoral law may ordain disclosure of private information of the candidates as may be necessary for their evaluation by the voters. For election to be on fair ground a candidate must be required to relinquish his executive position in any private company, public corporation or local government bodies and shall not enjoy any benefit from such organisations during election period and after being elected. The compliance of which shall be ensured by the election commission with the help of the executive organs of the state, which they are bound to provide according to law. In order to pre-empt any violence, or violation, the police system must be well-prepared. Though recently, police is backed by members of armed forces, there still remain some chances of wrong doing.

If the local self-government can be institutionalised, KOBAN (police box -- a Japanese police system adapted from French system) which is now widely adopted by most of the south east Asian countries may be effectively introduced. This system helps detection of not only election law violation, but also any social crimes.

As most of the general voters are not yet well-educated, high-tech electronic voting system may not immediately be effective. If voter ID cards are introduced, a mix of manual and computerised system can produce desired result.

Election review board: An Election Review Board may be established to expeditiously deal with election law violations and other election-related matters. It shall be empowered to cancel the election result of any particular constituency, or to reverse the election result in favour of the second highest vote winner if gross violation by the declared winner is established. The function of the present election tribunal may also be strengthened to serve this purpose.

If it is sincerely desired that service is delivered to the people, election is conducted fairly, people's rights are established, economy is revitalised, national capacity is built up, universal compulsory education is introduced, human resource is developed, industrial base is strengthened, full employment is approached, and social peace is established through government-people trust and not by imposition of anti-people irrational laws. There is no substitute to institutionalisation of scientific local self-government system that does not compete with, but rather supports, the central government.

Dr. Mustafizur Rahman is Chairman, the Institute of Development Strategy, Dhaka.