The Statesman (Indian Daily newspaper)- Bangladesh votes

[BDforever]

There was not another country in the world on Sunday that could have stood in so unsplendid an isolation as did Bangladesh. The world bore witness to an election that was boycotted by the Opposition, to at least 100 polling stations going up in flames, and booths without voters. Well and truly has the political class, most particularly the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, crafted the obituary of democracy. It would be less than fair to aver that the UN failed in its mission to play the honest broker; nearer the truth is the reality that the delegation wasn’t allowed to function, indeed to bring the two sides to the negotiating table. There was a blunt message in the refusal of the European Union, the Commonwealth and the USA to send observers; in real terms, the international entities refused to be part of the mortal exercise in self-deception.

In terms of electoral probity ~ a quality that lies rather thin on the ground ~ Begum Hasina’s victory means little or nothing, just as an uncontested election is almost institutionalised nonsense. The numbers, therefore, are no less irrelevant ~ 147 seats for the Awami League in a 300-member parliament. On the face of it, the Prime Minister for all seasons has had her way with her refusal to install a neutral caretaker government, on the terms set by Begum Khaleda. Thus was she able to score brownie points in the short term ~ a spurious victory that is being greeted by violence, killings and strikes each day. That tragedy of the electoral system deepened on Sunday with the death of 21 people in course of a thoroughly meaningless election.

In her hour of contrived triumph, Hasina has inflicted a self-inflicted wound that shall not be easy to bandage. It isn’t merely the brittle structure of governance that will be cause of international concern; as the scion of the family that brought the country freedom, her credibility as a political leader, as indeed that of the Awami League, is in tatters ~ a cruel irony if ever there was one.

Sad to reflect that on its eastern flank, India will have to deal with a neighbour whose claim to power is based on a travesty of any country’s tryst with democracy. A single-party election has made the deception complete. Yes, there will be enough MPs for parliament to swear in Sheikh Hasina as PM; but the pre-determined result is bound to lack legitimacy at home and abroad. A fresh election, chiefly to gain international credibility, is easier suggested than effected. The sad reality is that politics is much too dysfunctional in Bangladesh today. And as in Pakistan, the military can always play a spoilsport game. Mud flies almost everywhere in the subcontinent.

source: The Statesman: Edits

 

[kalu_miah]

There was not another country in the world on Sunday that could have stood in so unsplendid an isolation as did Bangladesh. The world bore witness to an election that was boycotted by the Opposition, to at least 100 polling stations going up in flames, and booths without voters. Well and truly has the political class, most particularly the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, crafted the obituary of democracy. It would be less than fair to aver that the UN failed in its mission to play the honest broker; nearer the truth is the reality that the delegation wasn’t allowed to function, indeed to bring the two sides to the negotiating table. There was a blunt message in the refusal of the European Union, the Commonwealth and the USA to send observers; in real terms, the international entities refused to be part of the mortal exercise in self-deception.

In terms of electoral probity ~ a quality that lies rather thin on the ground ~ Begum Hasina’s victory means little or nothing, just as an uncontested election is almost institutionalised nonsense. The numbers, therefore, are no less irrelevant ~ 147 seats for the Awami League in a 300-member parliament. On the face of it, the Prime Minister for all seasons has had her way with her refusal to install a neutral caretaker government, on the terms set by Begum Khaleda. Thus was she able to score brownie points in the short term ~ a spurious victory that is being greeted by violence, killings and strikes each day. That tragedy of the electoral system deepened on Sunday with the death of 21 people in course of a thoroughly meaningless election.

In her hour of contrived triumph, Hasina has inflicted a self-inflicted wound that shall not be easy to bandage. It isn’t merely the brittle structure of governance that will be cause of international concern; as the scion of the family that brought the country freedom, her credibility as a political leader, as indeed that of the Awami League, is in tatters ~ a cruel irony if ever there was one.

Sad to reflect that on its eastern flank, India will have to deal with a neighbour whose claim to power is based on a travesty of any country’s tryst with democracy. A single-party election has made the deception complete. Yes, there will be enough MPs for parliament to swear in Sheikh Hasina as PM; but the pre-determined result is bound to lack legitimacy at home and abroad. A fresh election, chiefly to gain international credibility, is easier suggested than effected. The sad reality is that politics is much too dysfunctional in Bangladesh today. And as in Pakistan, the military can always play a spoilsport game. Mud flies almost everywhere in the subcontinent.

source: The Statesman: Edits

Height of hypocrisy, reign in your stupid govt. that has created this fine mess and then complain about what is going on in the neighborhood, delusional morons.