OVERVIEW
The policies and structure of government in Bangladesh resemble that of a free country, however fail to live up to that image in execution. Throughout the semester, the leaders in Bangladeshi government have consistently contradicted policy and the mainstream concepts of a “free country”. Unfair elections and corrupt leadership serve as the core, most prevalent threats to democracy in Bangladesh.
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PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS
1. FAIRER ELECTIONS
Elections are the core of a democracy. The form of expression in voting gives constituents their voice in government. Therefore, Bangladesh needs to establish fair elections in order to become a more “free”, democratic country. Fair elections would allow the political leaders of Bangladesh to more accurately represent the people by promoting/protecting political pluralism and participation.
First Pass the Post
I think that Bangladesh’s democracy would greatly benefit if they ended or drastically improved their First Past the Post (FPTP) System. A FPTP system can be successful, but has so far been exploited by Bangladeshi politicians. Besides the 2008 elections, none of the governments received more than fifty percent of the popular vote. The result of the ninth parliament’s elections reflect such seat-vote disparity of the elections; The Awami League won 57% of the popular vote, but they received 87% of the seats. These electoral outcomes give the majority party a false mandate and sense of political superiority. And unlike a successful FPTP system, these falsely supported “majority” parties are less inclined to accommodate for opposition parties and/or converge to the median. In this way, the unreliable process for election results produces an unhealthy power dynamic between the majority party and opposition. From there, the majority party practically has all power, and can manipulate future elections to solidify their reign for long periods of time. In deferring from or improving Bangladesh’s FPTP system, as well as conducting neutral elections, the seats of parliament would more accurately represent the population while also promoting political pluralism (Jahan 2014, p. 254-255).
As I discussed in my previous blog post “Your Vote Doesn’t Count”, this overwhelming power of the majority party has resulted in complete hopelessness for the opposition party. The 2014 elections were boycotted by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) because they knew they were not going to win a significant amount of seats, and those that did participate were subject to violence. However, the upcoming December elections pose other possible new solutions. The BNP will join forces with the Jatika Oikya Front (JOF). The JOF campaigns without the “baggage of corruption” and has a history of supporting the liberation struggle. The plans of the opposition party present a solution to ending the majority’s party control over the elections by joining forces with other underrepresented parties (NewsIn.Asia 2018). Although I see this solution as less successful than changing the electoral process completely, it makes the most sense. The majority party has the most control over elections and therefore would not want to implement fairer elections, so for the opposition, their best bet is to join forces with other parties and transform elections from the outside in.
Representation/ Diversity
The Parliament in Bangladesh also fails to proportionately represent the constituency, especially in terms of gender, economic status, and religion. Don’t be fooled by the fact that the last two prime ministers were women, though that is impressive, the number of women directly elected to parliament remains very low. The ninth parliament, which actually shows progress, still only had 6% of seats has directly elected female members of Parliament. Even with the increase in reserved seats for women (currently 50), the quality of women’s participation has not improved by much. Most of those women are chosen based on traditional values and party loyalty, and are not taken seriously a recipients of affirmative action. A possible way to improve the quality and quantity of women’s political participation, as argued by many women’s organizations, is by demanding women’s quota in different tiers of the political party organization, direct elections for the women’s reserved seats, and enhanced quota for party nomination for elections. It comes down to fostering and legitimizing the role of women in politics (Jahan 2014, p. 255-257).
Money & Religion
As always, money is power. However, in an ideally free country, money should matter less than ideas when running for office. However, the high costs associated with running an election campaign prevent less affluent candidates from winning, and many from running in the first place. This prevents poorer, but just as intelligent/capable/popular candidates from winning while also preventing the lower class in being represented. The wealthy are buying party nominations and investing to ensure their election. Leftist parties that do advocate for the poor are politically insignificant (Jahan 2014, p. 258-260). Such impediments on resource-poor representation can be countered by limiting the spending on campaigns or limiting spending to a specific amount given to each candidate by the government. Other solutions that do not involve government action include the mobilization of the poor in collective action to support their candidates.
The majority of the population of Bangladesh is Muslim, however this does not justify the lack of representation for religious minorities. About ten percent of the population is Hindu. There is no support for affirmative action for the representation of Hindus. To ensure that their representation corresponds with their population, the Hindus also need to gather community support/power through collective action.
The hypothesized solutions for both underrepresented groups, the poor and religious minorities, are to mobilize themselves in collective action. This is largely because there is no internal power that is inclined to make any change for the increased representation of these groups.
In order to become a more “free” country, elections in Bangladesh need to be more fair, thus resulting in a more accurately representative body.
2. CORRUPTION
Corruption is the major problem in Bangladeshi government. I consistently return to the point that I think policies in Bangladesh themselves are those of a “free” country, but the political corruption prevents those laws from proper execution.
Corruption has invaded Bangladeshi government in all aspects. The constitution of Bangladesh is relatively young (45 years), and for its short life, has always been (at least partly) manipulated by leaders. This precedent has allowed for the continuation of law as a secondary power. The extent to which the law in Bangladesh is enforced is largely dependent on officials, therefore fostering a structure where the leaders matter more than law and laws not being seriously enforced. People often turn to the judiciary as their last resort to get justice- the rule of law (Khan and Islam 2014, p. 31). In my last blog post “Laws Are Just Words”, I discuss law enforcement’s own judgement reigning over the actual law. The prioritization of law would prevent the scenario in which a corrupt leader, although a corrupt or radical leader is a problem in itself, from transforming a democracy into an authoritarian regime. One of the first steps to Bangladesh becoming a free country is preventing corruption through a stronger dedication to their democratic constitution than individual leaders or parties. This is not as concrete of a solution as changing the structure elections, but the problem isn’t with the laws themselves. Judiciary as the last resort is a reflection of how people seek justice by proving that laws were violated. It is by normalizing lawful behavior among the bureaucracy, including political leaders and law enforcement, through elections and court rulings, that corruption can be reduced. Precedent is a powerful tool that has shaped stable democracies.
Additionally, transparency in government operations would increase accountability and therefore reduce corruption. The next steps for Bangladesh to reduce corruption and combat the developed system of elitism to become more of a “free” country are to increase depoliticize institutions such as law enforcement and the judiciary. There should be a proper system implemented to foster administrative transparency and accountability. Public release of reports of Parliamentary committees would increase bureaucratic accountability (Khan and Islam 2014, p. 35).
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ELECTIONS, CORRUPTION, AND BEYOND
Although I divide the main threats to democracy in Bangladesh into two, separate sections, these two issues are part of each other, and work together as part of a larger framework with other (just as important) aspects of governance. Fairer elections lead to less corruption in the same way that lowering corruption should foster more fair elections in the future. Increasing transparency would not only prevent corruption, but in itself attract less corrupt leaders. Improving one aspect of governance is only successful with other moving parts.
Bangladesh’s road to democratic consolidation is a long, multifaceted process that will require work by outside groups/organizations combined with structural changes in the government. I believe that unfair elections and corrupt leadership are the main factors driving Bangladesh away from becoming a free, democratic nation.
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Works Cited
Khan, Mohammad Mohabbat, and Md. Shahriar Islam. “Democracy and Good Governance in Bangladesh: Are They Compatible?” Millennial Asia 5, no. 1 (2014): 23-40. doi:10.1177/0976399613518855.
Jahan, Rounaq. “The Parliament of Bangladesh: Representation and Accountability.” The Journal of Legislative Studies, October 29, 2014, 250-69. Accessed November 18, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1080/13572334.2014.975470.
Editor. “Elections for Bangladesh’s 11 Th. Parliament Will Be Different.” NewsIn.Asia. November 20, 2018. Accessed November 20, 2018. https://newsin.asia/elections-for-bangladeshs-11-th-parliament-will-be-different/.