Two elections in the 'desh 26/10/08

Politics has been on my mind a lot over the last few weeks. After multiple briefings and some careful perusals of English newspapers, I am slowly building up a general idea of the background to the national elections due to take place here on 18th December after a 18-month long state of emergency. Then, of course, there is the US election in less than a fortnight, and everyone here is really interested in it. Whenever Trish or Keith reveal the fact that they’re American, someone will inevitably make a comment along the lines of ‘George Bush – na, Barack Obama – ji’ (this is a direct quote from a stall holder I haggled over the price of beans with the other day). It still seems strange to me that an election in a country so far away should be followed so closely by everyone here. Obviously, it’s fair to say that the result on the 4th will be pretty significant for the world, but the fact that this stall holder would express an opinion on the election when many Americans (and Westerners in general) don’t know where Bangladesh is reminds me again of Western (and especially my own) self-absorption and ignorance.

I feel lucky to be in Bangaldesh at such an interesting time, so I’ll do my best to explain what’s going down here at the moment…

Following significant political instability in 2006, President Iajuddin Ahmed resigned on 11th January 2007 and declared a state of emergency. This instability seems to have arisen mainly from tensions between the two dominant political parties, the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), who have alternated in power since independence, and who are responsible for immense corruption in Bangla politics. For four years in a row prior to 2007, Bangladesh ranked number one in Transparency International’s league table of corrupt countries; Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia (leaders of the Awami League and BNP respectively) have only recently been released on bail from prison, where they were held on charges of corruption.

In January 2007, the President handed power over to a Caretaker Government led by Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed, a former governor of Bangladesh Bank and senior staff member of the World Bank. By all accounts, this military-backed government has been largely successful in quelling the political instability that it was formed to tackle. Although it’s difficult to get an objective view, the Caretaker Government reportedly enabled the restoration of economic activity by cracking down on hartals (strikes), which are traditionally used by the opposition party to stymie the government. Hundreds of MPs were arrested on corruption charges in part of a massive anti-corruption campaign. A voter-registration drive and the formation of an Independent Electoral Commission have hopefully laid the foundations of free and fair democratic elections, which are set to take place in under 2 months.

Feelings about the Caretaker Government seem to be generally positive. Most people (well, VSO and the good people of the British High Commission at least) seem to think that it’s done its job as well as can be expected. Unsurprisingly perhaps, it now wants to wash its hand of the whole affair. So far, things are proceeding fairly smoothly towards 18th December: the parties are engaging in talks with the Caretaker Government, and are beginning to register with the new independent electoral commission. What’s more, the Jamat-i Islami (a reportedly Islamic fundamentalist branch of the BNP) has changed its name from Bangladesh Jamat-i Islami to Jamat-i Islami Bangladesh, which apparently indicates a distancing from fundamentalist Jamat-i Islami parties around the world.

However, doubts do remain. Despite the fact that the leaders of the two main parties were imprisoned for most of the Caretaker Government’s term, little has changed within the parties. That Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia will lead their parties into the election is a clear indication that little has changed. It seems that although the political structures of Bangladeshi politics have been reformed, the reforming zeal of the Caretaker Government has been unable to reach the substance of Bangladeshi politics. If this is the case, it seems likely that whoever wins in December may continue much as before. But we shall have to see.