As the next general election is imprisoned in the hands of the government it is easy for it to throw challenges and express its determination to go ahead with the election; no matter the new proposal of reducing the size of the government for the election time is acceptable to BNP-the second largest party.
The importance of free election is not so much to help the opposition to come to power as to prove the popular legitimacy of the government to remain in power. The free election crisis is at the heart of the crisis of obstructing sovereign people to chose their own government.
Thus the harsh truth is that democracy as the goal of our liberation war lost its way. Who could have pulled the strings from behind is a matter of guess. But despite the long and hard struggle of Awami League leadership for democracy it turned itself into a revolutionary party with no respect for the democratic institutions. The Awami League leadership has no reason to believe in free and fair election not evident under socialism anywhere. In socialist countries the election is captive for the government to ensure election victory.
Our position has been that elections are held not necessarily for the victory of the opposition. The election has to be free for the need of the people to decide if the government has acceptability of the people.
The BNP, the main opposition party, is insisting on election time neutral government to be sure of free and fair election at a level playing field. The demand of BNP for a neutral caretaker government during election time is the universal practice under parliamentary system everywhere. On the other hand the government treats the election as a concession to the opposition and it has absolute power over deciding the conditions for the election.
Nothing is going to convince the government that the general election is an opportunity for the people to elect their government. To be arrogant against the opposition demand is not the issue of great concern.
Denying free election is not just denying any political party from taking part in the election, it is denying the people to judge the government’s acceptability to the people freely.
Where election engineering is the major business of party politics it is impossible for the sitting contesting government to offer free election for judging the government and rejecting it freely by the people.
For the people the free election is essential to win back the democratic goal of our liberation war.
The challenge for the coming general election is not who comes to power between BNP and Awami League but owning back democracy form the vicious process of denying democracy. We are sure BNP and others are determined not to accept the farcical election like the one held in 2014. If the government does not set free the coming election to be held in December then the government may find it riding too hard. Fearing free election is weakness and not strength.
