Will the situation radically change for the better following the elections? Will the daunting challenges of criminalisation of politics, lack of good governance, and widespread poverty and deprivation of common people, religious extremism and so on be solved? Will the governance failures reflected in the crises in the delivery of various public services such as electricity, law and order etc. get better? Will the election results even be accepted by the defeated party/parties? Most of all, will the quality of our leadership improve? Finally, will we have a functioning democracy which will function for the benefit of the people?

Based on our past experiences, it is hard to imagine that things will get better, even in the best of circumstances. When Ershad regime was brought down in 1990 in a mass upsurge, it was expected that with a few free, fair and impartial elections, Bangladesh would be on its way to a better future -- a future people aspired for and deserved. However, the reality turned out to be very different. In fact, the situation turned into a sort of nightmare. Elections, instead of establishing people's rule, brought corrupt, black money and muscle power holders, and most of all, incompetents to power. Such unscrupulous elected representatives not only engaged in plundering themselves, they also politicised all institutions by employing partisan individuals, illegally doled out patronage to cronies, resulting in a rule of the largely corrupt, incompetent and partisan individuals in most spheres of the society. Because of such abuses and corruption, all the government services and institutions are now crumbling.

More seriously, the coming elections, even fair and impartial, may further lower the quality of our leadership. The few honest, decent and conscientious politicians that are still around are likely to be pushed out of the scene by the owners of money and muscle power. We have already been experiencing the functioning of Gresham's law in our politics -- bad people driving good people out of the political arena. Consequently, politics is now practiced largely without politicians and it is increasingly turning into a highly profitable "business". In a consultation meeting on PRSP in 2003, the former Country Director of The World Bank observed:

"In concluding my remarks today I would like to focus on ... sets of reforms that might be called 'deep reforms' ... First, reforms of the election system and political parties. The political system is being increasingly commercialised by the way the election system works. Candidates spend huge amounts of money to get elected, and if they win, many use their offices to recoup their investments, with profit. The election system generates the demand for bribes. Candidates from the major political parties violate the campaign spending limitation, and when the winners become MPs, one of their first acts is to lie, by certifying they did not exceed the campaign expenditure limit. One motive for running is ... to gain the protection that being an MP provides from being prosecuted, especially for loan default. The party organizations are not very democratic, and the party inner circles decide who will run. The lack of democracy inhibits the emergence of new leaders ... Second, law and order must be improved, especially by breaking the nexus among some politicians, the police and criminals".

Even fair and impartial elections are unlikely to lead to a functioning democracy because, as the tradition goes, the defeated party/parties will not accept the election results. True or not, they are likely to bring charges of manipulation and partiality of various interest groups. Consequently, they will boycott the Parliament sessions and resort to hartals and other forms of street agitation. Thus the cycle of non-cooperation, violence and instability will persist.

It is clear that for a true and functioning democracy, free and fair elections, as a democratic process, are necessary for orderly transfer of governmental powers. However, democracy is not all about elections. Elections are necessary, but they are not sufficient for democracy. In fact, elections-only democracy, more often than not lead to one-day democracy -- only an election-day affair or mere rituals of voting. Such a system, as our own experiences amply demonstrate, lead to elected autocracy. Democracy, to function properly and in the interest of the common people, requires the practice of democratic principles. Without democratic behaviour of elected representatives, elections largely turn into meaningless exercises. If politicians practice democratic norms, the system may function even without a written Constitution, as we can see in the United Kingdom. Democracy also requires democratic institutions, such as an independent EC, independent judiciary etc. on which the democratic edifice can stand and which can check the abuses of powers by the elected. The practice of democratic principles and effective democratic institutions are needed to ensure election of honest, competent and dedicated individuals to public offices.

Priority areas of reform
Clearly, reforms are needed to ensure that honest and wise candidates get elected to public office. Indeed the Election Commission must be reformed and made independent and strong. As is mandated by Article 118 of the Constitution, it is the institution responsible for holding free, fair and impartial elections, and enforcing all electoral laws for that purpose. The neutrality of the caretaker government must also be ensured during the elections. However, reforms of EC and the NCG alone, as demanded by the opposition, while absolutely necessary for fair elections, will make very little difference in improving the quality of leadership and consequently of governance in Bangladesh.

It must also be noted that the caretaker system is inconsistent with the basic structure of our Constitution, which requires elected leaders running the country at every level. It is not also a solution for our system of criminalised politics. It reflects mutual mistrust between political parties and the public's mistrust of political parties. Mutual trust and confidence are essential prerequisites for a truly democratic system.

Merely holding free and fair elections to allow public to freely choose between corrupt, incompetent and self-serving candidates will not only fail to improve matters, it will further erode people's confidence in democracy as a pathway to improving lives of the people. Unfortunately, this is already beginning to happen -- many are talking about alternative government as possible solutions.

In order to ensure a functional democracy in Bangladesh, we must now focus, on a priority basis, on the following systemic reforms:

Registration of political parties: Political parties and the standard of behaviour of politicians are vitally important for a functioning democracy. With dishonest and self-interested elected representatives one cannot expect an honest and people-oriented government. According to British Parliament's Committee on Standards in Public Life, the standard of behaviour of public representatives must include selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. However, our elected officials have utterly failed to comply with such standards. Thus registration of political parties must be made compulsory, as is the case in India, in order to compel them to show a higher standard of behaviour. This will also help our political parties' transition from their present state of being sort of self-serving syndicates for occupying political powers.

The conditions for registration must include:

• Democracy in the internal governance of political parties: Unless political parties practice democracy themselves, it is unrealistic to expect them to govern the country in a democratic manner.
• Transparency in the finances of political parties: All financial transactions must be carried out through banks and their accounts must be audited and made public. They must also fulfil their reporting obligations under Section 44CC and 44CCC of The Representation of People Order, 1972 (RPO).
• Reform of the nomination process: Active membership of political parties for at least five years must be a prerequisite for seeking their nomination and their primary members must have a clear say (e.g., through party primaries) in the nomination process. Parties must also explicitly commit themselves not to nominate those candidates who are corrupt, have criminal records, patronise criminals and are loan and public utility bill defaulters.

Disclosures of antecedents of candidates: In May 2005, the High Court Division of the Bangladesh Supreme Court directed the EC to collect from candidates, in the form of affidavits along with their nomination papers, information regarding their educational qualifications, criminal records, income, and assets and liabilities of themselves and their immediate families etc., and disseminate this information among voters. This was intended to empower voters to make informed decisions and the Court argued that "people have a right to know and such right is included in the right to franchise." Unfortunately, the EC failed to fully implement the verdict, which must be urgently remedied. Candidates failing to make full disclosures or making false disclosures must either be disqualified or their election declared null and void, if already elected. There must also be strict enforcement of spending limits by the EC.

In order to ensure that voters have a genuine choice -- choice among honest and desirable candidates -- the system of negative voting must be introduced. If the negative votes in a constituency exceed 50 percent of the vote cast, there must be reelection. (The Indian EC has already made such a proposal.) In addition, voters must be given a right to recall.

Qualifications and role of MPs: Corrupt, criminal, owner of black money, loan and public utility bill defaulter must be prevented from running for election to Parliament. Election to Parliament must be a full-time occupation and elected MPs must be prevented from directly and indirectly participating in any other gainful and profitable activities. Their roles also must be restricted to law making and parliamentary oversight functions. In addition, there must be restrictions on the boycott of Parliament. Furthermore, elected MPs must not interfere with the activities of local bodies.

Reform of Article 70: Article 70 of the Bangladesh Constitution prevents floor crossing by MPs. Any parliamentarian who violates this provision can be removed from office by their party -- a dictatorial policy that sets the will of the party leaders above the voice of the electorate. This restriction must be eased, if not fully removed, so that individual elected representatives are free to vote according to their conscience without fear of losing their seat by party retribution.

Action needed
Chapter VIA (sections 90A and 90B) of RPO already provides for optional registration of political parties. These sections may be amended to make the registration compulsory and the registration requirements more specific and stringent. However, a more desirable option will be to add a chapter on political parties to the Constitution.

The requirements for disclosures, as directed by the High Court, need to be included in the RPO. The provisions for disclosures that are already existing under sections 44AA, 44C and 44CC of the RPO must be enforced. The provisions for negative voting, right to recall, etc. must be introduced again by amending the RPO. Qualifications of elected officials are included in Article 12 of the RPO, which can be strengthened further. Article 66 of the Constitution on the qualifications MPs may also be made more stringent. These reforms must also be introduced in local elections.

According to Article 65 of the Constitution, the Parliament is already vested with the "legislative powers" only, which must be enforced. Reform of the Article 70 will require amending the Constitution.

Although the ruling 4-party coalition has the necessary parliamentary strength to unilaterally introduce these priority reforms, it must be done based on negotiations with the opposition. The proposal given by the Honourable Prime Minister at the recently concluded Parliament session to form a Committee may provide a pathway for negotiations. We hope the government will take immediate initiative to form such a committee in order to demonstrate its sincerity and seriousness.

Lest we forget, the political parties have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, and they are unlikely to easily agree to their compulsory registration and own reforms. Thus there will have to be outside pressure on them. The Court can play an important role in this regard. For example, despite all out opposition by all political parties, public interest litigations led to Supreme Court decisions in India that required disclosures by candidates information about their antecedents and the Court decisions were vigorously implemented by the EC, resulting in the identification and a serious move to ouster the tainted MPs. Pressure must also come from broad-based citizen activism, which SHUJAN -- Citizens for Good Governance -- has already initiated all over the country. Other conscientious citizens must now come forward.

If we are really to have a functional democracy in Bangladesh, there must be systematic reforms requiring compulsory registration of political parties, stringent disclosure requirements of their finances and qualifications of elected representatives, and the opportunity for them to apply their conscience.

Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar is Member-Secretary, SHUJAN,and Global Vice President and Country Director, The Hunger Project-Bangladesh.