People who know the newly appointed Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal are praising him as a highly efficient and honest person, but in our view his personal honesty and integrity is irrelevant to his official duty in the hotbed of election politics. He is no doubt a good man but when we don’t want elections under this undemocratic government his personal qualities count no merit since he will have no ability to run election free and fair.
This government has destroyed all democratic institutions and buried the independence of Election Commission. No one was able to cast freely over the past decade. Here the independence of the Chief Election Commissioner has no place in the face of the government policy to dictate national election at every level and win it for party men by hook and crook. This government holds election at midnight using intimidation to voters. Past chief election commissioners facilitated such rigging and stealing and later certified it as free and fair and were also largely participated by people.
The Chief Election Commissioner didn’t attempt to use police and local administration to maintain free and fair election environment. Opposition candidates were thrown out of polling booths and their agents were similarly expelled. We are afraid whether the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) would be able to resist midnight election and use the local administration to maintain election environment. This is the problem for a credible, neutral election and he must be able to exercise power to uphold the independence of the election process.
Here the personal quality of the CEC is irrelevant. He should have the courage to oppose the ruling party’s attempt to steal the election. If yes we would appreciate it but his failure is foreseeable as a nominee of the ruling party. A good man has no place in the hotbed of election politics and we can’t expect it otherwise as well.
