A closer look at the perceived successes of EC - is it a success yet? We don't think so.
Whenever one talks about successes of the current interim government, the names of Election Commission comes. But if you were to given a chance to criticize this organization, what would you say? What are the weaknesses, if any?
There might be many opinions about the process or criteria on which we should judge the election commissioners job - if they are doing it successfully or not.
However, everyone would agree on one thing. That is how to judge whether an election is successful or not. How?
An election is successful when the defeated party accepts the defeat. It is a very simple, yet most powerful test for the success of an election.
So, what is the biggest challenge of our election commissioners? It is not all the things that they are engaged in (which are all necessary) for last one year. They will also be doing many other things in coming days. But after all is said and done, all these technicalities will not ensure their success. The success of their work would depend on how the defeated party reacts after the result. The question is whether the Election Commission as institution is keeping their eye on the big picture, whether they are developing mechanisms using the technicalities to make sure that once the election is over, the result is being accepted graciously by the competing parties.
For the case of Bangladesh, using this test, the job of EC is probably one of the most difficult job on earth. In recent years, we have not seen any election passes that test. Not even the election that was held in 1991. When our analysts talks about post-1990 democratic elections, we often talk about how successful our elections were. We would like to disagree. None of those elections held in 1991, 1996 or 2001 passed the litmas test of successful election. In none of the cases, the defeated parties accepted the result graciously.
So, instead of being project managers of different technical projects that are going on, our election commissioners should be very much worried about their success. They have a very tough job in their hand.
Will the losing party accept defeat? - that should be the biggest headache of the Election Commissioners. If not, the election is a failure - and so are the commissioners. No matter how well you manage an IT project of making voter list, no matter how many times you hold dialogues, no matter how many restrictions and laws you come up with. Bottom line is whether you are working to create an environment where defeating party accepts their defeat. You have to start from there. Do you think the election commission is aware of this bottom line? We hope they do.
If the election commission really wants to become what the country really needs, they have to go back to the basics. Based on that analysis, they have to make sure that they have an effective communication strategy. If the commucation is done well, the EC can serve the country well. Otherwise, not. All the technicalities should be used to develop a mechanism that create confidence about the system among the competing parties.
If you thought some of the ideas are worth of your reading time, please forward it to others. If you have an ear to the columinsts in regular traditional media, please forward it to them. If you have an ear to the journalists and news editors of the electronic media, discuss it with them. Hope they would look at the suggestions and give due diligence.
Thanks for your time,
Innovation Line
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Note: This is a freelance column, published mainly in different internet based forums. This column is open for contribution by the members of new generation, sometimes referred to as Gen 71. If you identify yourself as someone from that age-group and want to contribute to this column, please feel free to contact. Thanks to the group moderator for publishing the article.
Dear readers, also, if you thought the article was important enough so it should come under attention of the ACC, please forward the message to them. Email address for the EC: ecs@bol-online.com or you can use this link: http://www.ecs.gov.bd/contact.php3
The more of you forward it to them, the less will be the need to go back to street agitation. Use ICT to practice democracy. ==================================================================================================
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