Bangladesh
CEC Even if 1% vote is counted, election is legally correct, questions on its legitimacy: CEC
Dhaka, Oct 5: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said in Bangladesh, if one percent of the votes are cast, but 99 percent are not cast, the election is legally correct. However, the question may arise about the validity of the election, but the election is legally correct.
He said, "We will not bother about legitimacy. We will see whether the vote was free, fair, peaceful or not. Only one percent of people voted. Yet if we see the voters who were coming, they were not turned away, they were allowed to enter the polling booths and they exercised their right to vote freely and unhindered."
A workshop titled 'Role of Candidates and Polling Agents in Establishing Unfettered Voting Rights' was held at the election building in the capital on Wednesday. Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal presided over the workshop in the conference room of the election building, where former election commissioners, election experts, media persons and others spoke in the workshop.
The representatives of the political parties through the office of Election Officer in 64 districts participated in this workshop through virtual medium. Speakers emphasized on ensuring polling agents at polling stations and performing their duties properly. At the same time, they urged the election officials to perform their duties impartially.
The CEC also said, "Our responsibility will be reduced if the elections are competitive. Some use the term participatory, some use inclusive. I am confused about what participatory and inclusive mean. Participatory is what I understand - if the mass of voters come and vote, who comes and who doesn't. I don't care about that. My genuine turnout is 70 percent. Then if contested, we will have a minor refereeing role in the contest. The contest will be between parties. They will keep their position strong. In that case, we believe, effective contest automatically creates balance within the polling station. Our responsibility comes down a lot in that case. That's why we like inclusive elections, it's our responsibility to bring anyone. Yet we have invited many times from our moral position to come and have tea with us. We have written up to the D.O. letter, we can't do anything more than that."
