Civil Society Initiative for Accountable Development
Evolve a system of control first
MH Bari
Politicians as well as political parties particularly in advanced democratic countries generally try to outwit the opponents in their political campaigns. Situation in Bangladesh is totally different. Here we see political vendetta. During the last 35 years we never witnessed any real peaceful political environment. We find the negative traits of our political leaders, politicisation of bureaucracy, free utilisation of non-student cadres and trade unions for power politics and patronisation of loan defaulters. In such a pitiable situation it is really praiseworthy that an initiative has been taken by Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Prothom Alo and The Daily Star inviting inputs from individuals from all walks of life to make our next national election meaningful.I do not consider that this movement will be successful for electing clean candidates. We have observed that many clean candidates lost their election deposit in the past. Our people are not so much conscious about their rights as yet and they are mostly guided by the whims and caprices of their local leaders. It would be more practical if our civil society steps forward pressurising the alliance government to pass a bill in the parliament for making election fruitful considering the following points so that the system itself would control us. 1.Registration of political parties with the Election Commission: Though provision for registration of political party with the Election Commission has been made under the Representation of the people (2nd Amendment) Order, 2001, registration has not been made compulsory. It is my considered opinion that for the sake of transparency and better electoral process registration of political parties with the election commission may be made compulsory. 2. Determination of cut off-point for public support: The aims and objectives of our major political parties are almost identical. Thus existence of so many parties is hardly justified. It is generally believed that so many parties only contribute to creation of confusion and anomalies. It appears that political parties must obtain at least 15 per cent of the votes polled in the national election for their survival. 3. Party council: To make the parties more democratic in their approach it appears that it would be good for party to hold party council every two years. This will widen the scope of culminating the democratic norms inside the party. Additionally such practice will help bring some balance in the party leadership. 4. Restriction on the election of party chief: The existing practice of making one the chief of party as permanently must be discontinued. It is certainly against good political culture. If election of the party chief is restricted strictly to two terms it will create scope for evaluating the honest and benevolent leaders in the party. 5. Audit of fund of the political party: Sources of party fund and its utilization must be properly audited. At present due to lack of transparency in the utilisation of party fund the system of sale and purchase of leaders is thriving. If proper audit can be started the influence of black money and musclemen of the party will definitely be reduced to a great extent. 6. Student and labour politics: It should not get any party affiliation. 7. Code of conduct for politicians: At present we see some politicians change their party loyalty too easily and too often. Their motive is only to grab power by any means. Some process must be evolved to check such motive. 8. Electronic voting: This must be introduced though it may cost much initially. People of Bangladesh fought for independence and sacrificed lot. It was their general expectation that they would be able to lead a better political and economic life in an independent country. M H Bari is an advocate.
| 
