Round Table Proceeding of The Dhaka Forum

The Dhaka Forum (TDF), a non-partisan think tank, organized a Round Table discussion on the 17th of December at the CIRDAP Auditorium that was very relevant in the context of the unstable political situation currently prevailing in the country. The topic of the Round Table was "Election, Election Commission, and Democracy." Dr. A.T.M. Shamsul Huda, the former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), preside over the Round Table.

The Round Table was attended, among others, by former Adviser of the Caretaker Government Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman; former State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Abul Hasan; the editor of Holiday Mr. Sayed Kamaluddin, eminent journalists Mr. Mahfuzullah; Mr. Mizanur Rahman Khan; former Election Commissioner Brigadier General (retd.)Sakawat Hossain; eminent educationist Dr. Dilara Chowdhury; Dr. Mahmudul Anam, Professor and former Chairman of the Department of Economics, York University, Canada. Mr. political officer of the US Embassy also attended. Both the print as well as the electronic media covered the event.

Dr.Salehuddin Ahmed, President , The Dhaka Forum, in his introductory remarks stated that Bangladesh was on the cross road now. Democracy and the rule of law should be ensured in order to uphold the spirit of the liberation war of 1971 and to accelerate economic development of Bangladsesh on equitable and sustainable path.

Ambassador M. Serajul Islam, a founder member of TDF presented the keynote paper for the Round Table. It highlighted the window of opportunity that has appeared before the nation as a result of the need to select the new CEC and 4 Election Commissioners (ECs) in February 2017 when the tenures of current CEC and the ECs would end and their replacements would be necessary. It welcomed the process that the Hon'ble President has started at the suggestion of the Hon'ble Prime Minister to select the new CEC and the ECs through consensus by discussion and consultation with the major political parties. The paper expressed the hope that the process would help the nation to come out of the stifling political situation in the country created by the almost total withdrawal of democratic space from the opposition following January 5, 2014, national elections.

The paper further stated that the country's war of liberation was undoubtedly one of the milestones in modern history. It, however, regretted that an equally important phase of Bangladesh's glorious history surrounding 1971 has now been virtually forgotten. Three months before the war of liberation started, the people of Bangladesh had risen as a monolith to respond to the call of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for sending an unequivocal message to Pakistan's military-civil leadership that the people of Bangladesh were determined to end Islamabad's colonial rule in East Pakistan.

On December 7, 1970, the 75 million people of the then East Pakistan voted as one in an election that was the freest and fairest in Pakistan's history. They backed the Awami League to win 167 of the 169 seats from East Pakistan that allowed it not just to become the majority Party from East Pakistan but the majority Party in Pakistan, a result that had earned the Awami League the right to form the Government and Bangabandhu the right to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The Pakistanis had no intention of allowing that to happen and instead declared the elections null and void and killed hundreds of thousands in a genocide that was similar to the one the Nazis had committed upon the Jews.

That genocide was not enough to dominate the spirit of the people of Bangladesh for freedom. And on 16 December, the Bangladesh Liberation Forces backed by 75,000 people aroused by Bangabandhu's nationalist call of freedom that had touched not just their heart but their soul as well, ended Pakistan's colonial rule and established Bangladesh as an independent and sovereign nation. Thus it was the vote that the people of Bangladesh cast on 7th December 1970 that expressed the true essence of the Spirit of 1971, a spirit that was so indomitable that even fear of death was unable to conquer. The paper stated that January 5, 2014, elections were the anti-thesis of December 7, 1970, in the context of the way the people voted.

In January 2014, less than 10% of the people of Bangladesh were able to vote and in 153 of the 300 seats in the National Assembly, no vote was required to declare the candidates as the winners. The 2014 elections, therefore, destroyed the spirit of 1971 in almost its entirety. The paper, therefore, argued that the need to restore to the people their right to vote is not a matter of the opposition; it is one of the people of Bangladesh. The paper further argued that the ball is in the court of the Awami League to restore the spirit of 1971 because it was extinguished through the January 2014 elections that it had supervised.

After the keynote paper presentation, open discussion took place which was conducted by Ambassador Masood Aziz.

The participants expressed a wide array of views on how the new Election Commission under a new CEC and ECs could hold the next national elections in a free and fair manner to, first restore to the people their inalienable right to vote and second, thereby restore the spirit of 1971. Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman while acknowledging the fact that the people have lost their right to vote due to the way the January 2104 elections were held that should be restored nevertheless stressed that it would not be right to believe that the restoration of the people's right to vote alone would bring Bangladesh out of its present predicament. He suggested a more holistic approach to Bangladesh's present political problem and stressed upon the need of over-all political as well as social and economic reform

Mr. Mizanur Rahman Khan also expressed similar views although he stressed less importance on the election and the election commission. He spoke very strongly upon the need of bringing the judiciary into a more pro-active role and stated that it should be given the same sort of powers that the US judiciary holds in constitutional matters. In fact, Mr. Khan appeared to believe that the importance given to elections in the country, the Election Commission, etcetera without the focus on the need to empower the judiciary has been the real reason why politics has come to such a sad state.

Mr. Mahfuzullah took strong exception to Mr. Mizanur Rahman Khan's suggestions that the panacea to Bangladesh's current political ailments is in making the judiciary strong and empowering it as the arbiter of constitutional and political problems. Mr. Mahfuzullah appeared to believe that embedded in the suggestions of Mr. Khan there were elements that were against the BNP. He also appeared to believe that Mr. Khan through his views was representing an agenda that was directed against the leaders of the two major political parties that the military government during the 2007-2008 unsuccessfully tried to implement, namely the discredited minus-two formula.

Brigadier General (Retired) Sakawat Hossain did not accept the view expressed in the paper that the CEC/EC did anything wrong in the January 2014 elections even when in 153 constituencies there were no elections. His argument was that the Election Commission was legally bound to go ahead with the elections even when the voters were not required to vote in the majority of the constituencies. He also stated that be believed that the proposed Search Committee had no legal basis and was only an ad-hoc arrangement. He wanted a law under which the CECs and the ECs would be selected.

Former State Minister for Foreign Affairs Abul Hasan while welcoming the TDF initiative referred to the discarded caretaker government system as the panacea for holding a free and fair election. He regretted that it was abandoned without giving it a fair chance and that as a result, the country has fallen into its current unfortunate political predicament. Dr. Dilara Chowdhury was very critical of the existing political and legal realities in the country that she considered were the main obstacles for holding free and fair elections. She strongly urged the need to establish the rule of law and social justice to pave the way for free and fair elections.

Ambassador Serajul Islam while reviewing the discussions in the context of the paper welcomed what he thought was a consensus that had emerged at the Round Table. This was that the inalienable right of the people to vote freely and fairly must be restored for a variety of reasons of which the most important was that it was necessary for honouring the spirit of 1971. He also thought that there was another consensus among the participants that the President's initiative for the Search Committee had offered a politically stagnant nation a window of opportunity to come out of the stifling political situation now prevailing in the country. He agreed that the role of the judiciary must be enhanced but did not agree that it should precede the more urgent need, which was the restoration of peoples' right to vote.

Former CEC Dr. Shamsul Huda in his address as the Chief Guest, appreciated the fact that the TDF had organized the Round Table at a very appropriate time with the initiative of the President to hold talks with the BNP and the opposition parties to select a neutral Election Commission to hold the next national elections in a free and fair manner. He agreed with the TDF paper that the Election Commission under the existing circumstances in terms of the laws and the rules was sufficiently empowered to hold a free and fair national election. It was the political will or the intent of the government that was standing in the way and denying the people their inalienable right to freely and fairly elect the party of their choice to form the government.

The former CEC wanted that the Search Committee being formed at the initiative of the President to make the names of those it would consider to be the next CEC and the ECs public for its scrutiny so that those who would eventually take up those posts would have public approval. He did not think that the Election Commission should have 4 Election Commissioners as the TDF paper had suggested. He wanted the EC should be smaller and also felt that the present EC had enough powers to hold a free and fair election that depended upon whether the Government wanted elections to be held freely and fairly or not.

Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed, President, The Dhaka Forum, made the concluding remarks to bring the Round Table to a close. He urged the media to play a proactive role so that the next CEC and the ECs are selected in a transparent manner and they are neutral and honest. He said the media must play this role as a watchdog on behalf of the people.

The Naryangang city corporation that was held after the TDF paper was presented underlined some of the hopes expressed at its Round Table. The BNP participated in the election and lost to the Awami League mayor candidate, the incumbent Mayor .Nevertheless, in the elections for councilors, the BNP won one seat more than the AL, 12 against 11, suggesting perhaps the election was free and fair.

The Naryangang city corporation election also underlined the main point made at the TDF Seminar; that the Election Commission is quite competent to hold a free and fair election if there is the political intent of the government to do so. It is now up to the government to demonstrate the same political intent for the next general election to restore to the people their inalienable right to vote and the spirit of 1971.