Deadlock when election comes. Why is this?
Al Masud Hasanuzzaman: The stalemate with the elections is not new for Bangladesh. One of the reasons for this is that while introducing a democratic system of government, political parties have walked the path of solving immediate problems. In the last phase of the anti-Ershad movement, a three party outline was formed. Political parties no longer followed suit. Parliamentary democracy was re-established in Bangladesh in 1991 by voting under a caretaker government led by Chief Justice Sahabuddin Ahmed. After the election, Awami League and BNP went to a certain style of politics. In the years that followed, they continued to pursue conflicting politics. They did not leave any way to implement the outline of the three alliances.
The Left’s proposal for elections under a caretaker government for three terms also did not last. However, Awami League did not allow the election to be led by a political party instead of the caretaker government of BNP. As a result, the caretaker government system was re-established through the Thirteenth Amendment. This system continued till roughly 2008 and we saw the ruling party lose every time. Then the fifteenth amendment came and the system of holding elections under the caretaker government was abolished. BNP did not participate in the 2014 elections. We are still suffering the political damage, the damage to democracy around the elections. The 2018 election was also not acceptable. Meanwhile, another election is going to be held. I would say that the electoral system under the caretaker government was a piecemeal reform. At the moment, the opposing positions of the two parties towards the election show no sign of resolving the problem.
