On August 20, for only the second time in our history, parliamentarians will have the opportunity to elect the president of the republic. If the ruling party sticks to its decision not to allow its MPs to vote freely, however, the entire exercise is poised to be anything but an election. It could instead be described as the beginning of the new president’s coronation. Like the first presidential vote 35 years ago, this one too follows another pro-democracy uprising. The first uprising forced out the military dictator, General HM Ershad; the second overthrew the civilian but increasingly dictatorial regime of Sheikh Hasina. In between these upheavals, we had seven presidential elections, all won unopposed by nominees of the then ruling parties. Interestingly, in both post-uprising parliaments, BNP would play a decisive role in determining the country’s democratic future. The second mass uprising, known as the July Uprising, was, in many ways, a very different political upheaval. It ...

It seems that some of us are quite intrigued by the results of the Union Parishad (UP) elections that show official nominees of the ruling party, Awami League, having lost in a big way. According to Prothom Alo, AL nominees’ percentage of losing the electoral battle gradually went up from 24 per cent in the first phase to 49 per cent in the fourth phase. Many critics of the government see it as a sign of serious erosion of popular support to the ruling party.  The fact, however, remains that most of the winners are so-called rebels of the AL and these elections were not a direct contest with AL’s main rival, the Bangladesh nationalist party (BNP), as the latter boycotted these elections. The Information Minister, Hasan Mahmud is right to point out the rebels' win is also AL’s win. However, his assertion that the Awami League is the only alternative to the Awami League is quite a different and much more serious issue. It raises a whole range of critical questions, including whether ...