The highly publicised appearance of a new poll monitoring group appears to have impressed many of us in Bangladesh with their high-level interactions with the Election Commission, ministers and a few other politicians. They were joined by quite a few foreigners, too, who have expressed their full confidence in the EC’s ability to organise fair elections. It was probably the current EC’s first formal meeting on the issue of election monitoring with some ‘’to be monitors.’’ Though chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal and four other commissioners spent about an hour meeting those local and foreign so-called observers, there was no communique or statement issued on the EC’s behalf. Unfortunately, colleagues in the media who have covered the event didn't tell us anything beyond what the chief of the local monitoring organisation and his foreign companions told them. As far as we know, the EC is yet to announce the list of the poll monitoring organisations who recieved their a...

When loan defaulting has become the most preferred option to get rich quicker for habitual defaulters, it seems those defaulters are so blessed that they can now contest the upcoming parliamentary elections by rescheduling their loans or bills just a day prior to collecting nomination papers. The cabinet last week gave the final nod to the draft Representation of the People (amendment) Act (RPA) 2023 that will allow candidates to reschedule loans or bills on the day before collecting nomination papers, instead of the current rule of seven days prior to nomination paper collection.   There’s little doubt about the magnitude and seriousness of the crisis that the accumulation of defaulted loans have caused in the country’s banking sector. According to Prothom Alo, whereas in 1990 the amount of defaulted loans was Tk 46.46 billion, in 2022 the amount reached Tk 1.3 trillion. The most loans have been defaulted in the past 14 years, when dominance of business people in parliament a...

It has been a year since the new Election Commission (EC) was constituted according to a law that has stipulated the qualifications of the chief election commissioner (CEC) and other commissioners, as well as their recruitment process - although the law itself is not above controversy. Since the new EC’s appointment, the government and the ruling party, have been relentlessly trying to pursue and convince everyone within the country and interested international observers that this institution has the capacity and authority to conduct all elections independently, ensuring fairness.  However, the functioning and the activities of the new EC, including the election of the new president, local government (zilla parishad) elections and a few parliamentary by-elections during the last one year, have been the least convincing of the idea. The lone issue where the commission has proven Its resolve is its tireless but irrational push for procuring Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), even in t...