General Election 2006

The right of all adult citizens to participate in the affairs of the government is one of the cornerstones of democracy. As the foundation stone of democracy, integrity and accuracy of the voter roll is of paramount importance. An underage voter may creep into the electoral roll, but it is unpardonable to disenfranchise any eligible voter by excluding his/her name from the electoral roll.

Perhaps the most fundamental form of political participation is the right to vote in free and fair elections. The ability to exercise the democratic right to vote is premised on the existence of a comprehensive and inclusive voter roll.

Enrollment procedures need to strike the right balance between the need to be rigorous to ensure integrity of the rolls, and the need for flexibility to ensure that people's right to enroll and vote are protected.

There were controversies over the electoral roll in the last few elections in our country. The confrontational nature of politics is reflected in arguments related to the electoral roll. Various reports in different news media just after the publication of the preliminary electoral roll raised different controversies. Some of the complaints and measures taken by the EC are mentioned below:

Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity warned that election in hill districts would be prevented unless the voter list was cancelled and a new list was prepared before the 2001 election, arguing that the list was not prepared following the terms and conditions of the Peace Treaty and the District Council Law. The voter list prepared during May-June, 2000 included nonresident persons staying in the Parbatya Chattagram such as businessmen and army personnel. PCJSS claimed that the list should include only the permanent resident of Parbatya Chattagram.

Four thousand women of 12 villages in Surat union of Jhenidah district were barred by fatwa from casting their vote in any election in the last 85 years before the 2001 election. This was reported by a section of the print media in January 2001. EC directed the Deputy Election Commissioner of Khulna and the Deputy Commissioner of Jhenidah to inquire into the complaint and submit a comprehensive report.

EC constituted high-powered investigation committees to probe into allegations of falsification and fraud in the voter roll at two places in Dhaka and one in Bhola. A four-member committee headed by a deputy secretary visited the constituencies where the voter rise was 50 per cent while country's average rise was 34 per cent.

EC investigators were facing difficulties in finding out the floating voters enrolled in slums in the city's Uttara area. An EC team visited the slum in June 2001 to re-investigate allegations that non-existent people were enrolled in the voter list there. During the visit, the investigators did not find some people enrolled in the list at the slum, and the local people informed them that these 'voters' actually resided in nearby Dakkhin Khan union. EC reconstituted four investigation teams to re-investigate BNP's allegation of falsification in the voter list in Bangabandhu Slum in Ward No. 85 of the capital city, Laxmipur-Ramgati constituency, Lalmohon and Tamujuddin.

Chief Election Commissioner Mr. M.A. Syed admitted the falsification of voter lists reported by the press and complaints filed by different political parties and directed the concerned officials to bring the culprits to book and take action.

Such controversy and complaints lodged by political parties and candidates clearly indicate lack of confidence in the accuracy of the electoral roll. EC received complaints from both the BNP and the AL as well as some independent candidates. Despite a sincere effort to make the electoral roll free from complaints before the last general election, EC failed as the drive was not timely. Thus EC should concentrate on the preparations for holding the election well ahead of time. The political parties should also play a complementary role with the EC for holding the election in a free, fair and impartial manner.

The civil society organisations along with the NGOs should come forward with more boldness to establish an independent EC above political interference. Initiatives of the civil society and NGOs help bridge the gap between the political parties and the EC, which can be strengthened through collaboration between the two agencies.

Emerging in the early 80s the NGOs in Bangladesh have been enthusiastically contributing in the national development process very successfully and on some issues more than the government institutions. The political government should not consider the NGOs as the rival but as a supplementary force in meeting the people's aspirations.

NGOs can successfully help government institutions solve most of the national crises. In this regard, Fair Election Monitoring Alliance has already set up some examples. FEMA has been vigorously advocating for electoral reform since its inception and has contributed to the process of holding free and fair elections in the country. FEMA's contribution in increasing the public confidence over the electoral process is unprecedented. After consultation with a wide range of professionals, activists and political leaders, FEMA made some recommendations for change to the existing electoral roll, some of which were included in the ordinance by President Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed during the tenure of the Caretaker Government on the eve of the 2001 general election.

Just after the official publication of the electoral roll before the election FEMA launched an awareness campaign "Let's Get the Voter List Right" with a view to promote a process for rectification of the electoral roll. The campaign also helped to wipe out fictitious voters from the list, ensure enlistment of those who were left out, and enhance public confidence over the electoral roll. Although the countrywide campaign led by FEMA was very effective it ultimately could not reach its overall goal due to time constraints and thus requires large-scale meaningful involvement of the non-government and civil society organizations in the future.

The whole nation has witnessed the formal politicisation of the NGOs of the country. In spite of this, the EC should seriously consider involvement of Election Monitoring Organisations like FEMA in updating and correcting the electoral roll by engaging its countrywide network of volunteers. The involvement of a non-partisan EMO in the process of preparing and updating the electoral roll would help increasing its level of acceptance to the political parties and the general voters.

During the registration period a good number of people get an excellent opportunity to get involved in the electoral process as volunteers with specific responsibilities. These responsibilities may include initiating voter education campaigns, encouraging the people to register to vote, monitoring the conduct of the government officials, and implementing a system to process complaints regarding preparation of the voter list. These activities including identification of probable problems in the process of registration can substantially enhance the quality of the electoral roll.

Moreover the importance of the pre-election environment monitoring including the process of nomination and its successful contribution towards holding a free and fair election suggests for monitoring of the process of preparing the electoral roll. Monitoring of the electoral process for ensuring a free, fair and credible election cannot be limited to monitoring on election day. The controversies surrounding the preliminary electoral roll and its finalisations demand inclusion of the monitoring of the process of preparing and finalising the electoral roll under the long-term observation program by the EMOs like FEMA.

The compilation of voter list for the purpose of elections to the parliament is based on the constitution, which vests responsibility for preparation of the electoral roll with the EC. Under constitutional provision there is to be one electoral roll for each constituency for the purpose of elections to parliament. Preparation of any special electoral roll classifying electors according to religion, race, caste or sex is prohibited.

Another important issue to be addressed is ensuring the right to franchise of the expatriate Bangladeshis. Non-resident Bangladeshis, numbering 2.5 million, are still considered ineligible to exercise their franchise in national and other elections. Once the expatriates are included in the voter list, it will be a must for the EC to make the necessary arrangements for casting their votes, which is not possible in the conventional system. Relevant laws need to be amended for ensuring the expatriate's right to franchise.

The EC however can seriously consider the following issues with a view to rectifying the electoral roll:

Involving EMOs to monitor/check the electoral roll throughout the country, particularly in areas where there were serious allegations of fraud;

Verifying the accuracy of the information on the voter lists by conducting sample surveys following a statistically accepted method;

Identifying extreme changes in the number of registrants in a region; and

Determining duplicate registrations and the registration of ineligible voters, various computer applications can be used for the existing election database.

EC should consider the formation of vigilance team comprising volunteers from various EMOs and representatives of various political parties. These teams would be engaged in scrutinising the electoral rolls of the respective areas under direct supervision of the election officials. If considered, the EC should go for immediate implementation of such a program for timely and effective completion of their activities resulting an accurate electoral roll acceptable to all.

Generally, the EC ought to have its own permanent personnel who would specialise in election related jobs and remain to serve the EC while top executives may be brought in from the civil bureaucracy. The EC should also hire consultants from amongst former/retired officers of the EC who have previous experience of handling election related issues and problems. EXPERIENCE has no substitute.

Sadrul Hasan Mazumder, served FEMA/MSS as the Programme Officer