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The general election of Bangladesh has been completed. The election commission declares that 41.8 percent of people cast their vote. In the Bangladeshi election culture, the percentage is seems not very bad. But before the election, we saw illegal foreign pressure and some of our political parties created obstacles to banning the election. Previous Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said that the foreigners' comments about the country's internal affairs are unwarranted and tantamount to interference in our internal issues. It’s a total violation of the Vienna Convention Act of 1961. Because no bureaucrat can interfere with the internal issues of any country.
Not only the foreign ambassador but also some of the political parties of Bangladesh wanted to dismiss the national election of 2024. So, they called hartal and blockade as a form of political culture. But the mass people of Bangladesh declined their pre-planned statement on the basis of election. Bangladesh is now improving its status and economic condition globally and in some of the stages, Bangladesh lead the position. So, it’s a headache for foreigners who don’t see the upcoming development of Bangladesh.
Ahead of the election, Sheikh Hasina acquired some of her signature achievements, such as Dhaka’s metro or the country’s longest Padma Bridge, which she inaugurated in 2021. She has cast herself as the leader of an impoverished nation aspiring to become an upper-middle-income country by 2031. “Bangladesh will never look back again,” Hasina said in 2023. Hasina’s government insists the election is inclusive and fair, and has condemned the BNP for staying out of the race.
On the international stage, Hasina has established ties with powerful countries and successfully balanced between rivals. She staunchly supports both India and China, even as the two Asian giants are locked in a standoff over a disputed border region. In turn, Beijing and New Delhi have financed a slide in Bangladesh’s infrastructure projects. The United States, the biggest export market for Bangladeshi garments, announced visa restrictions in May on anyone disrupting the electoral process in Bangladesh.
The announcement came after Washington expressed concerns over human rights violations and press freedoms in the country. Some people think that the USA can play a strict role that’s mean illegal stand in the national election of Bangladesh. I think they wanted to interfere but the people of Bangladesh denied their attempt.
Analysts saw the move as an attempt to push Hasina to hold a fair election. The election commission and the government of Bangladesh also constitute an environment; that’s why the people of Bangladesh also ensure that a free and fair election will happen. Bangladesh’s Awami League (AL) government and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) have been locked in a deadly standoff in the central up to a general election scheduled for January 7. Against a backdrop of growing discontent with the incumbent government, the BNP and its allies have announced they will boycott the vote after the government resisted their calls for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and hand power to a caretaker administration to oversee the polls. Following a major rally in Dhaka on October 28, 2023, that descended into violence, the government detained most senior opposition officials and seemed intent on crushing the BNP.
Just as important to Hasina’s long rule have been amendments to the constitution in 2011 that removed provisions requiring that elected party governments stand aside for a caretaker administration in the run-up to polls. Due to these amendments, the opposition boycotted the 2014 election, and when it participated in the 2018 vote, it faced a sustained crackdown from the authorities.
In Washington, meanwhile, the Biden administration has enacted sanctions against members of the Bangladeshi security forces implicated in human rights abuses and threatened to block visas for officials deemed to be undermining credible elections, as well as their family members. On the other hand, amid the street battles, BNP supporters allegedly killed a police officer; the government responded by arresting some of the accused person.
These events have only intensified antagonism between the two sides. Hasina has ruled out dialogue with the opposition, while the BNP and its allies have announced hartals (strikes) and blockades to disrupt the economy and force the government to accede to their electoral demands. Instead, the main opposition force is trying to build a broader anti-government coalition, including parties that it has not traditionally cooperated with. But in the event, they couldn’t form a proper coalition team against the government because they were not able to participate the people on their movement.
Bangladesh is at a critical moment. Some political scholars think that, Hasina’s determination to hold the election on her terms will increase the risk of violence, both before and after the polls. But after the completion of the election, no occurrence happened on the basis of national election. Given the level of domestic opposition it is facing, along with economic and geopolitical pressure, political scientists think that the two parties should engage in dialogue to chart a way out of the stalemate. Negotiations to rebuild relations between the main political forces and put Bangladesh back on to the path of democracy, peace and stability will require concessions from both sides. The country’s foreign partners, particularly the U.S. and India, should actively encourage them in that direction. But those were not established in the politics of Bangladesh.
Basically, the mass people of Bangladesh wants to see the political stability and economic prosperity by following the Constitution of Bangladesh. while some of the foreign diplomats constitute such a situation where they enforce illegal interference in the national election of Bangladesh. Some of our political parties create obstacles before the voters so that they can’t cast their votes properly. But the mass people deny their obstacles and go forward to cast their vote for their candidates. They think that to continue the democracy and to ensure the economic prosperity of Bangladesh, the citizens of Bangladesh cast their vote and declare their opinion by voting.
The writer is the Assistant Professor and Chairman, Dept. of Criminology & Police Science, University of Chittagong.
Messenger/Fameema
