Editorial
No dialogue until parties reform?
EC's shifting positions perplexing
Election Commissioner Sohul Hussain's statement that the EC will not engage in a dialogue with the political parties until intra-party reforms are carried out raises a very clear question: whether it is the commission's job to set its pace of work on the basis of what the parties undertake to do within or among themselves. Adding to the confusion is Election Commissioner Sakhawat Hossain's reported view that the EC is undecided about who to call in the parties to a dialogue. What the EC is expected to be doing here is send out letters to the parties at the level of general secretaries. Obviously, the EC will not be writing letters to politicians on an individual basis but to the office bearers of the parties. After they formally invite the parties to a dialogue the onus then is on the latter to send their representatives for talks with the EC.In broad measure, the Election Commission appears to have made matters more difficult for itself and for the political parties, to say nothing of the questions it has raised in the public mind about its wavering policies. Indeed, there is an impression that it has been shifting the goal post at nearly every opportunity. In the early stages, Chief Election Commissioner A.T.M. Shamsul Huda went on record with his view that the ban on indoor politics ought to be lifted in order to allow the EC to get into discussions with the political parties. At one stage he went public with the statement that the commission would not request the government any more to lift the ban. Then came the time when the EC expected the parties to talk to it even within the ambit of the ban on indoor politics. It was at this point that the parties appeared clearly reluctant to sit with the EC without indoor politics being resumed. And now the EC has come forth with the precondition of internal party reforms being carried out before it will consent to talks with the parties. The dialogue plan thus seemed to come to naught. The EC, in the broader national interest, ought to reconsider its latest stance. The reason is simple. Internal reforms happen to be a matter for the parties themselves. For the EC, the clear need is to focus on the electoral reforms it has placed on the anvil, a process with which the political parties would need to be associated though. Anything else on its part will amount to a sidetracking of the issues. In other words, the priorities should be clear for the Election Commission.
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