Bangladesh Parliamentary Election
December 2023 / January 2024
Bangladesh held its general election in January 2024, and several Western governments expressed concern over the political climate, where the ruling party dominates the legislature. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League has ruled the world’s eighth most populous country since 2009 and has been accused of human rights abuses and corruption. Concerns over a free and fair election flared after accusations of vote rigging and targeting of the opposition marred the polls in 2014 and 2018. Hasina’s government denied those charges. The 2014 polls were boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.
Bangladesh’s constitution provides for a parliamentary form of government that consolidates most power in the Office of the Prime Minister. In a December 2018 parliamentary election, Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party won a third consecutive five-year term that kept her in office as prime minister. This election was not considered free and fair by observers due to reported irregularities, including ballot box stuffing and intimidation of opposition polling agents and voters.
Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings; forced disappearance; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrests or detentions; political prisoners or detainees; transnational repression against individuals in another country; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; punishment of family members for offenses allegedly committed by a relative; serious restrictions on free expression and media, including violence or threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, censorship, and enforcement of or threat to enforce criminal libel laws to limit expression; serious restrictions on internet freedom; substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including overly restrictive laws on the organization, funding, or operation of nongovernmental organizations and civil society organizations.
Further significant human rights issues included restrictions on refugees’ freedom of movement; serious and unreasonable restrictions on political participation; serious government corruption; serious government restrictions on or harassment of domestic and international human rights organizations; lack of investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence, including domestic and intimate partner violence, sexual violence, workplace violence, child, early, and forced marriage, and other forms of such violence; crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting members of ethnic minority groups or Indigenous people; crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex persons; laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults; significant restrictions on independent trade unions and workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining; and existence of the worst forms of child labor.
There were numerous reports of widespread impunity for security force abuses and corruption. The government took few measures to identify, investigate, prosecute, and punish officials or security force members who committed human rights abuses or engaged in corruption.
There were numerous reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings. Law enforcement raids occurred throughout the year, primarily to counter terrorist activity, drugs, and illegal firearms. Suspicious deaths occurred during some raids, arrests, and other law enforcement operations. Security forces members frequently denied their role in such deaths. They claimed that when they took a suspect in custody to a crime scene to recover weapons or identify coconspirators, accomplices fired on police, police returned fire and, in the ensuing gunfight, the suspect was killed. The government usually described these deaths as “crossfire killings,” “gunfights,” or “encounter killings.” Media also used these terms to describe legitimate uses of police force. Human rights organizations and media claimed many of these crossfire incidents constituted extrajudicial killings. The number of extrajudicial killings in Cox’s Bazar was far higher than the rest of the country.
Although the constitution and law prohibit torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, local and international human rights organizations and media reported security forces, including those from the intelligence services, police, and soldiers seconded into civilian law enforcement agencies, employed torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. The law allows a magistrate to place a suspect in interrogative custody, known as remand, during which questioning of the suspect may take place without a lawyer present. Human rights organizations alleged many instances of torture occurred during remand.
Security forces reportedly used torture to gather information from alleged militants and members of political opposition parties. These forces reportedly used beatings with iron rods, kneecappings, electric shock, rape and other sexual abuse, and mock executions. Media, civil society, and human rights organizations accused the government of conducting enforced disappearances not only against suspected militants but also against civil society and opposition party members. Authorities often held detainees without divulging their whereabouts or circumstances to family or legal counsel, or without acknowledging having arrested them.
Arbitrary arrests occurred, often in conjunction with political demonstrations or speech, or as part of security force responses to terrorist activity, and the government held persons in detention without specific charges, sometimes to collect information regarding other suspects. From August to December 2022, police arbitrarily arrested thousands of opposition BNP members during otherwise peaceful protests. Following two clashes between the BNP and the Awami League in Netrakona and Madan, police filed charges against 759 BNP leaders and activists. In December media reported police headquarters announced that police arrested more than 6,000 individuals during a nationwide “special drive.” While police claimed this drive was to control crime, human rights organizations and observers noted most of the arrested persons were from the opposition party.
Human rights observers maintained that lower courts sometimes ruled based on influence from or loyalty to political patronage networks, particularly in cases filed against opposition political party supporters. Observers claimed judges who made decisions unfavorable to the government risked to other jurisdictions.
Prison conditions were harsh and at times life threatening due to severe overcrowding, inadequate facilities, physical abuse, corruption, and a lack of proper sanitation and social-distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Political affiliation often appeared to be a factor in claims of arrest and prosecution of members of opposition parties, including through spurious charges under the pretext of responding to national security threats.
Both print and online independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of views; however, media outlets that criticized the government were pressured by the government. Independent media could not operate freely or without restrictions. Authorities, including intelligence services and student affiliates of the ruling party, subjected journalists to physical attacks, harassment, and intimidation. Individuals faced the threat of being arrested, held in pretrial detention, subjected to expensive criminal trials, fines, and imprisonment, as well as the social stigma associated with having a criminal record. Civil society organizations stated political interference influenced the licensing process, since all television channel licenses granted by the government were for stations supporting the ruling party.
Although public criticism of the government was common and vocal, some media figures expressed fear of harassment by the government. Privately owned newspapers usually were free to carry diverse views outside politically sensitive topics or those that criticized the ruling party. Political polarization and self-censorship remained a problem. Investigative journalists often complained of their management and of editors “killing” reports due to fear of pressure from the government and its intelligence agencies. Some journalists received threats after publishing their stories. According to journalists and human rights groups, journalists engaged in self-censorship due to fear of security force retribution.
Authorities continued to prohibit gatherings by opposition groups and imposed what observers saw as unreasonable requirements for permits. Occasionally police or ruling party activists used force to disperse demonstrations assembled by opposition parties, organizations, and activists. Opposition leaders and activists reported numerous restrictions towards organizations. The opposition BNP was regularly denied permission to hold events or intimidated by authorities and ruling party activists at their events.
In June 2022 former prime minister and chairperson of the opposition political party BNP Khaleda Zia received permanent bail on two cases filed against her for hurting religious sentiments and making derogatory remarks against Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. This granting of permanent bail followed several short-term extensions since 2020 when Zia’s sentence was first suspended on humanitarian grounds. In a separate case alleging abuse of power, Zia’s indictment hearing was consistently postponed throughout the year due to illness. In 2018 Zia was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment on corruption and embezzlement charges, which were first filed in 2008. International and domestic legal experts commented on the lack of evidence to support the conviction and suggested a political ploy to remove the leader of the opposition from the electoral process.
A Sheikh Hasina loyalist was declared Bangladesh’s next president as the country headed toward an election where the official was expected to play a more prominent role following the dissolution of parliament. Bangladesh’s president, a largely ceremonial role, was usually elected by parliament, but that step was skipped because only one candidate was nominated for the post – by the ruling Awami League.
Md. Shahabuddin, 73, became president in late April when the current president’s term ended. The appointment of the little-known, retired judicial officer was seen as a surprise, as he was not one of a dozen or so names widely discussed as likely picks for the post. But one analyst saw him as a strategic pick ahead of elections expected in late December or early January 2024. Parliament is generally dissolved three months prior to election day.
None of the leaders whose names were discussed in the mainstream media and the social media “had complete docility” to Hasina, the prime minister, and her party, said Nizam Uddin Ahmed, a political commentator and a professor of public administration at Chittagong University. “A big factor for picking a loyal person like Md. Shahabuddin was the probable impending political unrest over holding the next general elections under a non-party caretaker government as demanded by the opposition BNP,” he told BenarNews.
He was referring to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and other opposition parties’ demand for a so-called neutral government in the lead-up to and during the election to ensure the polls are held fairly. The Hasina government has not given in to that demand. “In such political chaos, the prime minister must need the support of the president. The president can facilitate political dialogue between parties,” Ahmed said.
“In our system, the president’s role is ceremonial. But [even] a minimal criticism by the president in the public domain would trouble her government.” Ahmed recalled Hasina’s 1996-2001 tenure as PM when she appointed the non-partisan former Chief Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed (no relation to Md. Shahabuddin) as president. The former chief justice often openly criticized Hasina’s government, putting the prime minister in an uncomfortable position, Ahmed said.
“At one stage, the relations between the government and the president became bitter. She knows the trouble a ceremonial president can cause to the government,” Ahmed said. He criticized the prime minister for picking the president without consulting lawmakers who would usually elect the president in the legislature. “The Awami League parliamentary party met. But the party secretary did not allow any MP to talk about the presidential candidate. He told the meeting that all MPs have the trust of the prime minister to pick the presidential candidate and the MPs shouted yes,” Ahmed said. “This is not a democratic procedure. I think the prime minister could have discussed the candidate’s name with the MPs.”
Ram Dulal Bhowmick, a long-time resident of Pabna, from where the presumptive president hails, spoke of Md. Shahabuddin’s loyalty to the ruling Awami League. “After the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman [on Aug. 15, 1975], he was jailed for three years for his allegiance to Awami League politics,” Bhowmick told BenarNews.
The 73-year-old had been jailed for opposing the government that formed after Hasina’s father, Mujib, was assassinated. Mujib led the movement which brought Bangladesh’s independence and served as its first head of government. Bhowmick also spoke of Md. Shahabuddin’s criticism of the World Bank, with regard to a huge infrastructure project, the Padma Bridge.
“I think, one of the factors that earned him the nomination [as president] is his handling of the World Bank charge of corruption in the Padma Bridge project as a commissioner at the Anti-Corruption Commission,” Bhowmick said.
Md. Shahabuddin had rejected claims of widespread corruption that caused the World Bank to withdraw funding for the bridge project a decade ago. Bangladesh built the $3.6 billion bridge anyway, and it was launched in mid-2022 with much fanfare, giving more than 30 million people in southwestern Bangladesh a way other than ferry to access the rest of the country. But that success has been somewhat eclipsed by economic woes that have led the IMF to extend a $4.7 billion loan to keep the country afloat.
The European Union said 20 September 2023 it would not deploy a full election observer team to Bangladesh, citing a lack of “necessary conditions”, prompting the opposition to declare that the polls would not be fair.
Hasina campaigned on signature economic achievements during her tenure, which include infrastructure projects, such as Dhaka's metro rail, highways and the country's longest bridge, 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. During Hasina's leadership, the prevalence of extreme poverty in Bangladesh has significantly decreased.
However, since at least June 2022, Bangladesh has been under economic strain, partly attributed to the lingering economic repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine. Mismanagement within the financial sector has also played a role. The Awami League election manifesto emphasizes job creation, with a commitment to social security and good governance as part of its core political agenda. The overarching goal is to establish a "Smart Bangladesh" by 2041.
Bangladesh embarked on its 12th parliamentary elections on January 7, with nearly 2,000 candidates from 28 political parties contending for 300 parliamentary seats. However, voters will not be able to choose a candidate from the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which boycotted the polls after the Awami League rejected demands that a neutral caretaker government preside over the general elections. In the months leading up to the elections, authorities cracked down on BNP leadership and supporters. BNP alleges that approximately 20,000 of its members have been detained in the past few months on false charges. Tens of thousands of their supporters have taken to the streets in sporadic protests, which often descended into violence. Hasina and her party leaders insist that the elections will be representative and participatory, as 28 out of 44 registered parties are running in the elections.
Hasina's governing party, the Awami League, won 216 out of 229 seats, meaning Hasina wins a fourth consecutive term in office. The vote was boycotted by the main opposition. But relentless and violent protests starting in June and the inability of the security forces to put an end to them drew the curtain on Hasina's rule. The demonstrations began in June after student groups demanded the scrapping of a controversial quota system in government jobs.But it escalated into a major uprising against Hasina's government. The unrest has so far claimed the lives of about 300 people since mid-July, according to local media reports.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
