Ill-advised comments

EDITORIAL

Is EC accepting or predicting the inevitable?

Election commissioner Kabita Khanam said that it is not possible to hold 100 percent free and fair elections anywhere in the world. We are used to hearing from time to time comments varying from the sublime to the ludicrous from members of successive election commissions. However, the recent comments of one of the present election commissioners, about the upcoming election, take the cake. Just to put the matter in context, on November 16, we were told by the said commissioner that nowhere in the world is there a completely free, fair and 100 percent blemish-free election, and it would be the same in Bangladesh too.

Apart from the fact that she is absolutely off the mark in her assertion regarding the quality of elections elsewhere, her views about the December 2018 election are highly ominous. What should one make of such a comment at a very sensitive time, when everyone is imploring the EC to exercise the powers vested on it by the constitution and the relevant laws, and hold an acceptable and participatory election where the voters can choose their candidates without hindrance or let? Interestingly, only in August did we hear the CEC himself say as much about the election being 100 percent foolproof, which the said election commissioner disowned, that being not the opinion of the EC. And now it is she who has repeated the very opinion she had repudiated. Therefore, one could well ask: What is the benchmark for the norm, and how much “bad” would be the pass mark for a “good election”?

It seems that not only has the EC resigned to the fait accompli but the comments also encourage what it considers as inevitable and unpreventable. We believe that the views and opinions of election commissioners reflect the EC's stand on particular issues unless that is explicitly disowned, which so far has not been done. Instead of preparing the voters to expect the worst, the EC should assert its resolve to hold a good election. No EC can deliver with a negative mind frame.

• Courtesy: The Daily Star / Nov 19, 2018