The message from Charles Whiteley, the European Union ambassador to Bangladesh, that the EU will not send election observers to the next parliamentary election if it is not participatory appears to be intended to encourage all political parties to make the next election inclusive. The EU ambassador communicated this message to the BNP, the main opposition, on Sunday when they met in Dhaka. Media reports suggest a similar message has been passed on to the government as well. Though participation or inclusiveness of an election is an important prerequisite, can it alone make elections credible or fair? Unfortunately, the 2018 experience proved otherwise.  If a participatory election means that the maximum number of political parties and independent candidates will take part in the race, then the 2018 national election was truly participatory. Even most other by-elections held afterwards, including the latest six by-polls to the parliamentary seats vacated by BNP MPs, were somehow par...