Islamic parties losing votes, forging alliance

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Street level activities of Islamic political parties and organisations have been increasing over the last few years, but the Election Commission’s (EC) documents show that the numbers of votes cast for them in the last three elections have been declining.
According to many political analysts’ observations, in wake of the prevailing situation the Islamic parties are favouring forging of alliances as parts of their efforts to increase organisational strengths and chances of winning seats in the parliament.

The total number of votes bagged by the Islamic parties declined by over four percent in June 1996 parliamentary election compared to 1991 election, although turnout of voters increased by about 20 percent in 1996.

Sensing a decline in their popularity, the two major Islamic political parties, Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ) joined BNP in an electoral alliance in 2001 parliamentary election and for the first time in Bangladesh they got the taste of state power.

Now they are determined to continue their presence in the BNP-led alliance while the latter is apparently burnishing its Islamic credentials to have an air of having the religious Muslim community with it, many political analysts believe.

Some Islamic parties and organisations however did not believe in elections under the existing constitution and laws. Some of these organisations have been identified as militant outfits of which the government has already banned four that made moves to establish ‘the rule of Islam’ through militant activities.

Ahead of the next parliamentary election scheduled for January 2007, the two major Islamic political parties, Jamaat and IOJ, which do not believe in having women leaders and have been blasting the idea of women leadership for a long time, still remain in the four-party ruling alliance led by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.

Although, Jamaat is strongly opposing BNP’s move to bring HM Ershad into the ruling alliance by labelling him as corrupt, many political analysts believe that Jamaat will not leave the alliance for the sake of its own existence.

IOJ however did not make any objection to BNP’s move to bring Ershad-led Jatiya Party into the alliance.

STRENGTHS OF ISLAMIC PARTIES
Seventeen Islamic political parties contested separately in 1991 parliamentary election and bagged 14.87 percent of total votes cast at the polls but the number declined by about 10 percent in the parliamentary election held on June 12, 1996.

Through unofficial understandings with BNP in some constituencies, Jamaat-e-Islami won 18 seats and bagged 41,36,661 or 12.13 percent of total votes in 1991. But in 1996 it won only three seats and bagged 36, 53,013 or 8.61 percent of total votes, as BNP did not support Jamaat that time.

Deposits for candidacy of 225 out of 300 Jamaat-e-Islami candidates were forfeited in June 1996 election as they failed to obtain even one eighth of total votes cast in respective constituencies.

Islami Oikya Jote however won one seat in each of the two elections, but the percentage of votes it received was reduced from .79 percent in 1991 to .33 percent in June 1996, and 163 out of its 166 candidates lost their deposits in 1996.

The rest of the Islamic parties together failed to bag even one percent of the total number of votes cast in 1996.

In 1991 parliamentary election, 463 candidates of all the Islamic political parties together bagged 50,72,963 votes. The turnout of voters in that election was 55.45 percent. In June 1996 election 800 candidates of 18 Islamic parties together bagged 43,86,716 votes or 9.80 percent of total votes. Deposits of most of the Islamic candidates were forfeited after the polls. The total turnout of voters was 74.96 percent.

The two major Islamic political parties, Jamaat and IOJ, however recovered from their debacles in the polls somewhat by joining the BNP-led alliance in the last election, which helped them in winning some seats in the parliament, but they could not increase the number of votes they received.

With support from BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami won 17 seats and bagged 4.28 percent of total votes cast contesting in 31 constituencies while IOJ won two seats and bagged .68 percent of total votes contesting for seven seats in the last parliamentary election.

But the candidates nominated by nine other Islamic political parties failed to win any seat in the last election. The total number of votes received by them was not even one percent of total votes cast.

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