Without fair and participatory elections, unrest will increase in the country. Apart from this, it may affect the diplomatic relations with the western countries and the economy of the country.
The panelists spoke at the Forum for Bangladesh Studies webinar titled 'Another Rigged Election: Diplomatic and Security Risks' on Saturday (December 23) afternoon.
Former Election Commissioner M Sakhawat Hossain, one of the speakers of the webinar, claimed that 60 percent of the people are not interested in the 12th Jatiya Sangsad elections. A section of the electorate is also in a wavering state. So more than 30 percent voters will not come to vote.
He mentioned that Bangladesh is going to see another election, the result of which will be the same as before. How sustainable it will be, only the future will tell.
Political analyst Sakhawat Hossain said that it is not possible to say how many political parties participated in the election or whether the election was participatory with the presence of voters.
He also said, "What happened in the 2014 and 2018 elections, I can call it a hybrid democratic regime. Because, in the definition of democracy, the participation of many parties is mentioned. This time, the government party has given a 'dummy' candidate to show that participation. They will compete. We cannot get out of the cycle of hybrid democracy.''
Incidentally, the UK-based research institute Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) published the report of 2022 last February, the name of Bangladesh is in the category of hybrid governance. The Economist Intelligence Unit refers to hybrid regimes as systems where free and fair elections are often hampered.
In this regime, the government has regular pressure on opposition parties and opposition candidates. Judiciary systems of countries in this category are not independent. Journalists are harassed and pressured. Widespread corruption, weak rule of law, weak civil society characterize such regimes.
Former Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain said, there was never a real democratic governance system in Bangladesh. Elected or unelected governments exercise authoritarian rule. There is no accountability in such a system. There is no remedy for wrongdoing.
Democracy is not only elections. Tauhid Hossain mentioned that it also refers to decision making based on social consensus.
At the same time, he said, elections are important. As the period of authoritarian rule lengthened, various problems began to crop up.
Pointing out that the purchasing power of the middle class and lower class people has decreased, Tauhid Hossain said, "I want to believe that there will be no famine in the country." But famine is not only a lack of food, it also refers to a situation where there are products in the market, some people are unable to buy them or are forced to cut the budget to survive. The major challenge in the country's economy is the decrease in reserves. The condition of the banks is bad. The mega projects of the government have been overspent; this extra money has gone out of the country through corruption.
About Bangladesh's relationship with the United States Tauhid Hossain said, "Different things are being said from different levels of leadership. Whatever US will do will be in their interest. The country is talking about free and fair elections in Bangladesh, it is also the demand of the people of Bangladesh. The US also imposes a partial embargo on the country's garment sector, which will see women workers in the sector lose their jobs. Then the possibility of famine in the country cannot be ruled out.
Mubashar Hasan, a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo in Norway, said in the discussion, the main opposition party BNP is being persecuted and may have implications for future security.
Mubashwar Hasan said, if the election was participatory, the questions of where to keep the people of the anti-security-jail capacity would not have come up.
Columnist and political analyst Zaheed Ur Rahman, a member of Forum for Bangladesh Studies, said in the closing speech of the webinar that the Election Commission has not done the two-word in the oppression that is happening on BNP. Even if we vote in the election, it will not be a national election.
The webinar was moderated by journalist Monir Haider. Professor Mahmudul Hasan of the International Islamic University of Malaysia gave the opening speech.