If the election is fair according to parliamentary system the other political parties will have nothing to complain.
They will come to win or accept the electoral defeat. But the election engineers are for ensuring the sitting government to win. Therefore government does not want to follow the parliamentary system and dissolve the parliament or cease to be in power.
The present position is that the government will be in full control of the whole government administration during the election. The whole administration has been politicised through distribution of favouritism and impunity against corruption. There is no answer as to why in Bangladesh election should not be held like under parliamentary system everywhere? There will be no need for appeal to the US Ambassador or to the United Nations for persuading the opposition parties to take part in the election. The parties with the people’s following exist to take part in the election. They do not wait for invitation.
Nowhere under parliamentary system election is held under the elected government or without dissolving the parliament. But the sitting government is not ready to give up power or face the people on equal footing like others. So they are insisting on election in which the government does not have to resign.
A prominent minister of the government cited the example of election in the United States to mislead knowingly or not. He said there the government does not resign. But the United States have presidential system under which the president continues in power. So what the minister wants is that under parliamentary system the election will be under the presidential system.
It seems we are still under the curse of one party system for putting an end to the people’s aspiration for democracy and democratic way of life. The experiment of one party socialism failed in 1975. Bangabandhu with many of his family members lost their lives. Other prominent Awami League leaders were killed in jail. The situation was so tragic and horrific that we expected politicians to be careful.
But the curse of one party is not leaving us. Addiction to power is so blind that no wise council to make politics safe by allowing change of government on the basis of free election will be heeded. The power will change hands because that is its nature. The question is how and when. Nothing could be worse than making politics a dangerous game of do or die.
