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Bangladesh Democracy Firm Since Vote
FrontLines - August 2009
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Women voted in record numbers during Bangladesh’s landmark parliamentary elections. Here, they
line up to vote at a polling center in Dhaka Dec. 28, 2008.
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Seven months since Bangladesh held its first general
election in seven years, the country seems well on the road to restoration of routine democratic
government.
Turnout was over 86 percent in the Dec. 29 election. The election
was deemed well-organized, peaceful, free, and fair. Election experts and the Bangladeshi electorate itself declared that, with the exception of the 1991 election that marked the return of Bangladesh to democratic rule, no other election has been so instrumental in advancing democratic
development in this populous
Muslim-majority country.
For a country battling serious
environmental, economic, and social challenges, the election
results were widely seen as a resounding endorsement of democratic governance and as a strong expression of faith in the peaceful transfer of power.
The Awami League alliance— Mohajot or “grand alliance”—led by Sheikh Hasina Wajed (prime minister from 1996 to 2001) won in a landslide. The coalition won 263 seats of the 300 directly elected seats of Bangladesh’s unicameral parliament.
The 2008 election restored democracy to the South Asian country after two years of governance
by a military-backed caretaker
government, which took over during massive pre-election civil unrest in January 2007. The elections fulfilled an early commitment
of the caretaker government
to conduct parliamentary elections before the end of 2008.
USAID led international efforts to monitor and encourage election preparations in accordance
with the caretaker government’s
roadmap for democratic transition. The effort came after years of support for the country’s political and electoral processes.
USAID sponsored an additional
15 long-term and 25 short-term observers, augmenting bilateral funding and bringing the total of USAID-funded international
observers to 132. The Agency also coordinated election observation efforts of 16 diplomatic
missions in Bangladesh, including 18 employees of the U.S. mission in Dhaka.
All told, there were more than 300 international election observers and tens of thousands of domestic poll monitors.
The election came after major reforms in the areas of candidate selection and scrutiny, financial disclosure, and campaigning. A reconstituted election commission oversaw a massive army-led effort to register eligible voters in computerized
rolls with photographs.
At the beginning of the voter registration process, there were fears that women might not go to the registration centers, have their photographs taken, or be able to understand the new voting
procedures. Yet, in the end, slightly more women than men registered as voters. On Election Day, women turned out in record numbers and stood patiently in long lines to cast their votes.
U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh James F. Moriarty made this prediction a few weeks before the election: “In my view…there will be no more transformational election in the world this year than the parliamentary
elections scheduled for Dec. 29 in Bangladesh.”
USAID has sponsored orientation programs for the newly-elected parliamentarians, including special sessions for the 64 women legislators. The Agency has also developed long-term programs to strengthen the electoral process and democratic governance in Bangladesh.
★
FrontLines is published
by the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
U.S. Agency for International Development
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