Mayoral Elections In Bangladesh : What Are the Lessons
Mayoral elections were held in four cities and nine townships despite protest from some major parties. The election was held under emergency .Even according to election commission in most places honest candidates did not participate generating question why it happened? Many winning mayoral candidates have pending criminal cases against them . As the result has been declared it shows that the mayoral candidate who won in the cities was from Awami League but in wards supporters of other parties are in the majority. The question that has come out is whether the election represents the trend of public opinion.No body can be sure because major parties like BNP and Jamaate Islami did not take part in election officially, they did not set up candidate , they did not campaign.Moreover no body is sure about the mind of the rural vote which is eighty five percent of Bangladesh. The things may be very different if all major parties join election and campaign . In any event the result has galvanized Awami League because of its victory in prime posts.It has also galvanized the four party alliance, consisting of BNP, Jamaate Islami and two other parties , and it has also become more determined now for a different reason, they do not want to down grade any longer the strength of Awami League , want to devise new strategies for the coming national election. We have to wait to know what will be the nature of the next government.
