DHAKA, Sept 17, 2018 (BSS)-A fair and credible election under a partisan government is possible if political parties play a responsible role, said Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB).
“It is possible to hold a credible election under a partisan government . . . it can’t be said all elections held under the present government was unfair,” said TIB executive director Dr Iftekharuzzaman while speaking at a programme here today.
He said election under a partisan government is a common practice in many democratic countries of the world. Political parties will have to play supportive and responsible roles to ensure a free and fair election, he added.
In this connection, he said there is a tendency not to accept election results when a party faces debacle in the election but it has to be discarded. People’s confidence in holding an election under a party government has shrunk because of such tendency, he observed.
As it is the reality that the caretaker system has been annulled constitutionally, the election will have to be held in a way which is constitutionally legal, he said.
“If we look at the world . . . neutral caretaker government system is rare where there is parliamentary system of democracy,” he added.
During the programme, the anti-corruption watchdog unveiled its analytical study on good governance and the integrity of election manifestos of the political parties.
Iftekharuzzaman mentioned that political parties made many promises in their election manifestos but there is a gap between the pledges made in the manifesto and the implementation.
“There is a huge gap between the promises made in the manifesto and their implementation. Even then, we got some positive sides . . . the policy-framework relating to good governance and integrity has been strengthened in the last 10 years,” he added.
Highlighting many reforms made by the government for preventing corruption, he said the right to information law is a time-befitting one but some laws are being made that contradict it.