Electoral reform or additional number of MPs?

The practice of installing a non-party caretaker government for organising a credible general election was introduced in Bangladesh in 1991, and so far three parliamentary elections have been organised under this new arrangement. This new system, originally initiated for ensuring a free and fair election and although it got initial approval of all of the political parties, members of the civil society and other professional groups, has now become a little controversial. Some of the activities of the non-party caretaker government of 2001 received serious objections from one of the major political parties of the country.

A number of abusive and fraudulent elections where people did not have the right to choose their rulers/government had taken place and "vote piracy", "vote hijacking" and "media coups" (media manipulation of election results) had become a part of the country's election culture. As a result of this, the new experiment of installing a non-party caretaker government, headed by the immediate past chief justice of the Supreme Court was introduced unanimously by the leaders of all political parties in 1991 in order to conduct a generally acceptable parliamentary election.

The pattern of bureaucratic and military rule that became firmly established in Pakistan influenced the trend of politics in Bangladesh, which was a part of Pakistan until the country's independence in 1971 following a bloody war. The military leaders, after proclaiming Martial Law in the country, time and again portrayed themselves as saviors of the nation in times of "peril" and were supported in this by a section of the bureaucracy. The absence of frequent elections and the recurrence of fraudulent elections alienated the people from the path of the democratic political process. Martial law was in force in the country for more than a decade and authoritarian rule continued until 1991.

From independence up to 2001, eight Parliamentary elections, three Presidential elections and three referendums have been held in the country. Elections, at times took place to provide credibility to governments as well as to confirm constitutional changes, rather than to institutionalise the democratic processes. Elections were also used to legitimise the actions of the civil military bureaucracy enacted under the cover of Martial Law or the dictatorial rule.

In order to restore credibility to the country's electoral process and institutionalise the democratic system in the country, the leaders of all political parties waged a successful joint movement to remove General H.M Ershad from power. As agreed upon by all the major political parties, a credible parliamentary election was held under the supervision of the non-party caretaker government headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed in February 1991, putting the issue of non-party caretaker government for holding parliamentary elections on the political agenda of Bangladesh. The experience of the 1991 caretaker government and the elections conducted by it caught the imagination of the general public. A sizeable segment of the population came to believe that a non-partisan caretaker government was a necessary factor for ensuring free and fair elections in the country.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which won the election was not apparently enthusiastic about conceding to the demand of the opposition leaders for accepting the caretaker system for conducting the future parliament elections, claiming that it was not possible for them to hand over power to an unelected body. They stressed that the route to free and fair elections was through strengthening the Election Commission. There was lot of political agitation and demonstrations and a number of initiatives were even undertaken by various international organisations, including the Commonwealth Secretary General to resolve the crisis. Finally the fifth parliament was dissolved and a new election for the sixth parliament was held without the participation of the major opposition political parties. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which was in power, won what was termed a farcical election by the local as well as international observers. The new government formed after the election lasted for only few days and then they were forced to hand over power to the non-party caretaker government.

However, the new BNP government before handing over the power finally conceded to the opposition demands and made the necessary constitutional changes (thirteenth amendment) for a non-party caretaker government to hold all future parliament and other elections in the country.

Up to 2001, three parliamentary elections have been organised under the non-party caretaker government system, and all these elections were generally peaceful, orderly, transparent, free and fair. There were exceptions which appeared to be attributable to individual candidates and their supporters, not part of any grand design as before during the military or dictatorial regimes. Moreover, the irregularities were not significant enough to affect the overall outcome of the polls.

Several hundred international observers representing the Commonwealth, the National Democratic Institute, USA, the SAARC, the Canadian, the Japanese, the European Union etc monitored all of these elections and expressed their satisfaction, terming the elections generally fair and transparent.

However, the raison d'etre of having a non-party caretaker government is apparently to enable free and fair elections to take place in the country. The idea is to elect members of the parliament, where the majority party receives the constitutional mandate to form the government and run the country for the term of five years. Logically such a government elected " freely and fairly" through the votes of the eligible citizens of the country would be expected to shoulder the responsibilities of holding the worthy elections as well in an environment of freedom and fairness. That is how the democratic process gathers the strength of a well-revered institution and that is what allows a democratic culture -- something intangible and beyond the obvious practices and requirements of democracy -- to develop and take roots.

In Bangladesh as well as in some other developing countries, the very process of democratic development was rudely interrupted by military interventions and autocratic rule for several years. But in Bangladesh a unique innovation in the name of saving democracy has been introduced -- a non-party caretaker government for ninety days -- and this system received wide acceptance from a cross section of citizens. But a section of the people and some professional groups had some reservations about the newly introduced system from the beginning and they always refused to accept this system as a permanent remedy for holding credible democratic national elections. During its ninety-day stay in power, it is possible for the non-party caretaker government to organise only the parliamentary election. But what about by-elections and other national elections such as municipal or other local body elections? This section of people are of the view that an unelected non-representative, disparate collection of people are suddenly brought in as a panacea for the supposed malignancy the immediate past elected government caused to the system, during their five long years in power. After all of this time the outgoing government is a priori found incapable of holding the elections for the next parliament. Possibly no other country suffers from such a self-inflicted demeaning act, the supporters of this view argue.

Moreover, the President, as per the provisions of the act, will appoint the Chief Adviser from amongst the Chief Justices of the supreme court who retired last and the integrity and neutrality of the former Chief Justice of the supreme court is normally beyond any doubt. But what about the neutrality, integrity, credibility and acceptability of the ten advisers who are supposed to be appointed by the President in consultation with the Chief Adviser? The activities and general performances of a few advisers of the last three non-party caretaker governments were criticised by one or two major political parties. It was said that since they were politically biased towards a particular ideology, they were not qualified to be advisers of a non-party caretaker government and that their neutrality and integrity were questionable, at least for conducting a free, fair and credible election.

Furthermore, some election professionals think that in order to make such appointments more acceptable to all and to make the system institutionalised, retired top officials like the cabinet secretary, retired chiefs of staff of three services -- army, navy and airforce -- retired inspectors general of police, retired comptroller and auditor general, retired judges of the supreme court, chairman, public service commission and elected top professionals like the heads of the federal chamber, doctors association and engineers association should be selected for appointment as advisers. This will likely to enhance the image of neutrality and acceptability of the non-party caretaker government and thereby the credibility of the election to be conducted by them will be more widely acceptable.

There is no denying the fact that the electoral system and processes of developing countries like Bangladesh are flawed. And that is why many election professionals argue that many of the shortcomings can be set right, the pitfalls avoided and the lacunae removed through practices of electoral processes instead of putting those on indefinite hold by some quick-fix arrangements like the introduction of a non-party caretaker government system for conducting parliamentary and other important elections. Hence, they suggest that if the Election Commission is given the total mandate with necessary funding provisions for making all electoral arrangements in coordination and cooperation with the relevant government agencies and other associated bodies and members of the professional and civic bodies, it is possible to have an almost foolproof mechanism to eliminate fraudulent/bogus voting and thereby hold a credible election. In that case, the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners should be made in consultation with all the major political parties so that their acceptability and neutrality are beyond doubt.

However, the new experiment introduced in Bangladesh in 1991 for conducting all future national elections under the supervision of a non-party caretaker government received some international recognition, and some international organisations have started examining the various pros and cons of the new system before fully endorsing it. Perhaps one day other developing countries, who like Bangladesh have been suffering from problems in the implementation of credible democratic elections, will be able to benefit from a modified form of the non-party caretaker government.

Zahid Hossain is associated with Bangladesh Enterprise Institute as Senior Research Fellow.