Don't call me, I will call you

We are entering interesting times here in Bangladesh. We just hit an important date: October 25th. Political crisis is mounting over the next general election, which must be completed between October 25, 2013 and January 24, 2014. Prior to the incumbent changing the Constitution, it was necessary for the government in Dhaka to resign and form a non-party interim government to run the national election.

The Prime Minister Hasina has made crystal clear she would not go for a caretaker government and declared that the upcoming elections would be held under her Awami League led incumbent government as the Constitutional amendment had already scrapped the caretaker or interim government.

However, the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party maintains its demand that the government should bring a neutral government and that the present Parliament must be dissolved before the general election.

So what do we have here? A huge political impasse! Not to worry, Hasina promised she would call the opposition leader Khaleda Zia to settle the issue. For days everybody was holding their breath, hoping the ladies would get together and sort it out.

In the breaking news today: "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called Opposition leader Khaleda Zia this afternoon to invite her to a dialogue over polls-time government but failed to reach. The prime minister called the opposition leader at her red phone at 1:15pm but could not talk with her as no-one picked up the phone for half an hour."

Shucks, we missed a huge opportunity. But, wait, there is another breaking news now:

"BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will call Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at 6:00pm today".

So there is still hope after all! Once we get done phone tagging.

Gazipur elections

Last weekend I served as an observer to the Gazipur city corporation elections. In itself, the city did not mean much. Strategically though, one can view it as mini national election. 

The incumbent party, Awami League got crushed and the opposition, BNP was triumphant again. Although a close fight was expected, nobody could predict the beating the Awami League candidate suffered. As of now, the Awami League's prospects dont look very bright for the national.

I am not going to go into what I think it caused the defeat for the ruling party: corruption, Padma Bridge scandal, the attacks against Yunus, the heavy handed approach against the Islamist movement. Let's just say that people are voting against the Awami League and not really for the BNP.

But that’s how it goes for a country where elections barely matter in improving the quality of life. That's why almost everybody you talk to here thinks nostalgically about the last time when the country was led by the military!

"Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others." (Churchill)

This past weekend Bangladesh held elections in four key cities across the country — Khulna, Barisal, Rajshahi and Sylhet. I had the opportunity to go to Rajshahi as an observer along with two other people from the US Embassy.

First a little bit of background. Bangladesh is a big country from a population standpoint. Dhaka, the capital has 15-16 million people. Chittagong, the second biggest city has 7.5 million. But after these two cities the rest are really minor population wise. Khulna, which is the third largest city, has just over a million people. The other three, where mayoral elections were held yesterday, have less than a million, therefore you can call them ‘second tier cities.’ 

The local elections were important, just because the results could reflect a nationwide erosion of support for the ruling Awami League party six months ahead of general elections. Any vote against an Awami League candidate could be seen as a verdict against the government's performance. 

While the election went mostly smoothly, there was some violence preceding it. An activist campaigning for a Barisal candidate has been shot and supporters of two candidates clashed in Rajshahi. Turnout is usually high in elections in this country and this one was no exception.


The pictures below are from the elections day in Rajshahi.

Most of the stations were gender segregated, which was something interesting for me to observe. My enthusiasm at the sight of long lines at the women booths dissipated when I understood the reason behind it. Literacy rate is lower among women, therefore it took longer to explain the process to them. Sad, but true.

A polling official with the voting materials. You can see the ballot boxes. They are transparent and seal easily with the plastic zippers, both anti-fraud measures. When voting finishes, the flap on the top also closes and locks with a plastic zipper.

A close-up on the ballots. There was one ballot for the position of mayor, one for the council, and one being reserved for women. As in previous elections, the ballots use symbols to represent the candidates so that illiterate people can vote. Outside, all the election posters feature the candidate’s picture together with his or her symbol so you know to vote for “lock” or “pineapple”.

The formula for a successful hartal

In order for a hartal to succeed a very precise recipe has to be followed. The ultimate goal is for the majority of citizens to boycot work, travel and other normal activities.
The decisions to call a hartal are made at meetings of the AL’s Presidium Committee or the BNP’s Steering Committee. After a hartal has been declared, the parties initiate pre-hartal activities for three or four days before. The student wings of the parties (the BNP’s Chatra Dal and the AL’s Chatra League) are usually the ones in charge of making this happen. Rallies are organized around university campuses and members of the armed cadres are present with the purpose of instilling an element of fear by letting off “cocktail” explosives. Also, on top of the student wings, different city wards carry out similar activities, staging rallies and setting off small explosions.


On the hartal day, students stage rallies starting on the campuses. The first task is marching close to police barricades and try to antagonize police personnel. Then, bombs are thrown towards the barricades causing the police to respond in force. And then the "fun" begins. Party activists have similar tasks all over the city, focusing on specific areas and streets. Violence include letting off bomb explosions, burning tires and ransacking rickshaws, CNGs, and cars. Buses are set on fire.

A large mass of people is also key to a successful hartal, therefore people are hired to participate. The hired hands generally come mainly from the slums via the mastaans, the middlemen. This practice is being used both by the AL and BNP.