Shakhawat Hossain and Moloy Saha
Bangladesh has slipped eight steps down on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Democracy Index 2017, which politicians, intellectuals and experts say is not surprising given the present political regime’s pathetic stances on freedom of expression, civil liberties and holding fair elections.
According to the index released recently by the research and analysis division of the London-based The Economist Group, Bangladesh could score 5.43 points out of 10 and was relegated to the 92nd place.
In 2016, the country was ranked 84th with an overall score of 5.73 points.
Based on criteria like pluralism, civil liberties, political culture, electoral process, political participation and functioning bureaucracy, the index also showed that the country has slipped to the lowest level in a decade.
In the Democracy Index 2007, Bangladesh held the 75th position among 167 countries.
Politicians, academicians and rights activists blamed the government for the decline in democracy in the country. Dhaka University professor emeritus Serajul Islam Choudhury said that the index reflected the truth. ‘The current government lacks accountability,’ he told New Age on Friday.
‘Parliamentary democracy is not functioning properly in the country in absence of a genuine opposition party,’ he said, ‘parliamentary democracy cannot be effective without genuine opposition.’
Socialist Party of Bangladesh general secretary Khalequzaman said that democratic institutions of the country were not functioning properly. ‘Influence of democratic institutions is being squeezed and they are losing their effectiveness,’ he observed. ‘It seems to me that the government is heading toward an autocracy,’ Khalequzaman warned.
Communist Party of Bangladesh presidium member Haider Akbar Khan Rano said, ‘The government has turned the country’s election process into a farce.’ ‘Democratic rights of the people have been squeezed and opposition parties are not getting their deserved spaces to carry out political activities,’ Rano said citing recent incidents of repression on agitating students of Dhaka University and garments workers.
Ganasanghati Andolan chief coordinator Zonayed Saki said that the country was facing serious democratic crises as the government and the ruling party had merged into one. ‘They have lost their own separate roles and as a result opposition parties are not getting the spaces for running political activities,’ Saki added.
They were also critical of the government’s recent initiative to adopt an act on the ground of ensuring digital security as it would give wrong signal abroad about the country’s democracy.
Local government expert Tofail Ahmed feared that the freedom of expression, one of the five major criteria of the index, would be hampered because of section 32 of the proposed act, which stipulates publishing news based on government documents as an act of espionage.
The experts were highly critical of the government’s role in holding the last general election boycotted by major political parties for adverse polling atmosphere.
Civil society organisation SHUJAN’s secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar said that the ruling party had to trade-off between democracy and development by holding the lop-sided general election in 2014. He noted that such a trade-off was a false one given the fact that sustainable development is complementary to democracy. He maintained that strong political will of the ruling party was needed for improvement of democracy and democratic institutions in the country.
Transparency International Bangladesh executive director Iftekharuzzaman said that political rivals of the ruling party also could not avoid their responsibilities for the waning of democracy. He said that opposition parties had failed to put pressure on the ruling party to protect the interests of the people as well as the democratic commitment. He, however, pointed that the space for opposition parties were narrowed down by the ruling party.
The experts noted that the upcoming general election is crucial for halting the waning of democracy. They hoped that the country’s democracy would start to move in the right direction once an acceptable and fair election participated by all major political parties was held.
Neighbouring India was placed 42nd on the index and Norway once again topped the ranking with an overall score of 9.87, followed by Iceland and Sweden. In 2017, the index’s average global score fell from previous year’s 5.52 points to 5.48, according to the report made public on Wednesday.
The United States was demoted from a ‘full democracy’ to a ‘flawed democracy’ in the same report last year.
- Courtesy: New Age/Feb 3, 2018
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