Bangladesh News

The Election Commission (EC) has decided in principle to bring changes in the political party registration system to prevent parties in name only from enjoying the status of registered parties permanently if they perform poorly in national elections.

The decision came in the wake of very poor performance of at least 25 out of 39 registered political parties in the December 29 parliamentary polls, EC sources said.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda has already directed some officials to work on it, and the commission discussed the issue at a meeting.

“We are thinking about the matter. We will have to do something to this end,” Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain told The Daily Star yesterday.

As per the existing provision for registration of political parties, a party registered with the EC will enjoy the status regardless of its poll performance.

The EC now believes such a liberal provision encourages parties in name only also to get registered and enjoy the status permanently.

But the existing provision concerning an independent candidate in national polls is quite strict requiring one to collect and submit signatures of one percent of voters of the constituency concerned along with the application seeking candidacy.

“It is a discriminatory provision. So, we should address it,” Sohul said.

Explaining this, he said a new provision might be made stating that a political party will be de-registered if its performance in two consecutive parliamentary elections is very poor. In that case, a registered party must secure a certain percentage of votes cast in the constituencies where it will field candidates.

“If a party is de-registered, it will have to get registered afresh to qualify for contesting parliamentary election,” Sohul said.

The election commissioner however said nothing has been finalised on the issue, and the commission will start working on it after election to the presidency and reserved seats for women in parliament.

He pointed out that certain provisions in the Representation of the People Order (RPO) will have to be amended to bring any change in the registration system, which was introduced to streamline the electoral system keeping the parties in name only away.

In the recent parliamentary election, 25 smaller parties that fielded 716 candidates bagged only 2.38 percent of the total votes cast, failed to get any seat and almost all of their security deposits have been forfeited for poor performance.

But 148 independent candidates in the polls got 2.95 percent of the votes cast, and four of them secured parliament seats.

The parties in name only, registered with the EC, are entitled to get donations, a set of electoral rolls in a CD and broadcast facilities in the state-owned electronic media during general election.

Besides, as per the RPO, the EC will consult smaller parities, like the bigger ones, on election-related matters.

In the previous national elections, performance of the smaller parties was almost the same.

Of the 7,03,57,353 votes cast in last month’s parliamentary polls, 25 minor parties bagged 16,59,945 while independent candidates got 20,58,998.

Of the 25 parties, six got less than 0.01 percent vote, three 0.01 percent, three 0.02 percent and three others 0.03 percent, shows the EC report on poll performance.

The parties that got less than 0.01 percent vote include Ganotantri Party, Biplobi Workers Party of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Muslim League, Islamic Front Bangladesh, Freedom Party and Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal.

Progotishil Ganotantrik Party (PDP) got 0.02 percent vote, Bangladesh Kalyan Party 0.03, Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh 0.21, Gono Forum 0.10, Jamiate Ulamaye Islam Bangladesh 0.25, Zaker Party 0.19, Krishak Sramik Janata League 0.15, Communist Party of Bangladesh 0.06, Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal 0.06, Bangladesh Islami Front 0.05, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal 0.04, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish 0.04, Bangladesh Tarikat Federation 0.03, Bangladesh National Awami Party 0.03, Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan 0.02, National People’s Party 0.02, Bangladesh National Awami Party 0.01, Ganofront 0.01 and Oikyabaddha Nagarik Andolan 0.01 percent.

Among the minor parties, Islami Andolan Bangladesh fielded the highest 166 candidates, who bagged 7,33,969 votes or 1.05 percent of the total.

Two other smaller parties– Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ) which is a component of the BNP-led four-party alliance, and Jatiya Ganotantrik Party (Jagpa) that got BNP backing– performed better.

The IOJ fielded candidates in four constituencies and got 1,08,415 votes or 0.16 percent of the total while Jagpa contested two seats and bagged 1,07,796 votes or 0.15 percent of the total.