Dhaka – Stressing the upazila polls’ local essence, party’s Publicity and Publications Secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud said on Tuesday evening that important as they are, “there is no scope for drawing conclusions regarding a party’s popularity at the national level from local elections.”
Dismissing suggestions that the upazila polls assumed greater national relevance in light of the parliamentary elections held last January 5, Dr Mahmud pointed out that there is no direct participation of political parties in these elections.Nevertheless, it is well known that political parties do play a part in upazila elections by lending the organisational strength they enjoy throughout the nation to their favoured candidates. As in previous years, this year too witnessed potential candidates vying hard for one of the main parties’ ‘backing’ in each of some 480 upazilas where elections will be held for the posts of chairman and vice-chairman over five phases by the end of March.
But Dr Mahmud played down the link between parties and candidates, saying “it’s difficult to identify who is backing who in every case. In many upazilas, you’ll find very popular candidates seemingly backed by more than one party.”
Increasingly identifiable as one of the Awami League’s leading spokespersons in his current role, the former minister welcomed the participation of the BNP-Jamaat faction in the upazila elections. “It would have been even better for upholding and strengthening the country’s democracy if they had taken part in the parliamentary elections as well,” he added.
Still, he rejected the notion that a triumph for candidates backed by BNP or Jamaat would be a testament to the support they enjoy nationally, returning to his theme that the vote in each upazila would fall on local issues, and their results would serve as no indication of a party’s standing amongst the electorate.
In the 2009 upazila polls, boycotted by the BNP, AL-backed candidates won 400 of the 481 posts of upazila parishad chairman. The 97 upazilas that get the chance first on Wednesday to elect their chairman anew are expected to portend greater competition this time around. – UNB
