The Election Working Group (EWG) has accused the Election Commission and several candidates of violation of the electoral code of conduct ahead of the 10th parliamentary elections scheduled for January 5.
EWG, a non-partisan network of 29 leading civil society organisations, reported on two weeks’ of findings since the announcement of the election schedule on November 25 by the EC.
A total of 180 long-term observers of the network are working in 143 constituencies, covering all ten electoral regions in 55 of the country’s 64 districts.
The EWG report said before the allocation of symbols, Jatiya Party had urged the EC to not issue the party’s election symbol plough to any other political party. The party also submitted a letter to the Election Commission to withdraw the symbol from the polls.
But the EC did not withdraw the nomination papers of JaPa candidates.
Awami League continued its party meetings at Ganabhaban, the prime minister’s residence, after the election schedule was announced. The party’s parliamentary board meeting was held on November 27, a day after the declaration of the election schedule.
EC was not seen taking any actions against this.
The report mentioned that as per the election schedule, the last date for withdrawal of nominations was December 13 but in some constituencies Awami League candidates withdrew their nominations after that time.
Citing media reports, EWG said in Cox’s Bazar 1 constituency, one of the Awami League candidates withdrew his nomination on December 14.
A majority (78%) of the candidate nominations came through recommendations made by the central parliamentary board or party high-ups of their respective parties. Only in approximately one-fifth of the cases, recommendations for candidate nominations came from the district or upazila party committees, which according to the Representation of the Public Order is the proper process for nomination.
The report said in violation of the electoral code of conduct, early campaigning by some political parties was observed in 28 of the 143 constituencies (20%). Awami League candidates were involved in campaigning in 24 of these, according to the report.
Estimated expenditure by Awami League candidates on campaigning was also observed to be significantly higher than that of other parties.
Observers noted a significant increase in election-related violence over the last few months. Instances of political and election violence were observed in 66 constituencies (47%).