For Sheikh Hasina winning her fourth term was no challenge. Like ever before her administration had put in place everything to win this election. By the eve of election to parliament some 12,000-plus Opposition activists had been arrested, media bludgeoned to silence, world calls for on-spot observations rejected and high-speed internet suspended. That in the Third World democratic dispensations, barring a few exceptions, regular polls tend to throw up civilian dictators is a fact; her electoral victory at the year's end, therefore, is no big surprise. And it is a massive victory - her Awami League-led coalition has won 287 of 298 seats in the 300-member parliament. Since 50 seats reserved for women are to be allocated to parties in the house on proportional vote system, the Opposition in the house would then be nothing but an apology for a functioning democracy. How the democratic world would react to this pyrrhic electoral victory of Sheikh Hasina, one would like to wait and watch.
For over 20 years democratic process in Bangladesh has been an extremely messy affair; for some time between the two Begums and now between their highly politicized worldviews. At stake is the naked political power, bereft of any ideology or national commitment. The last parliament election was boycotted by Begum Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh National Party-led alliance over a mass-rigging plan put in place by the ruling Awami League. Such was the build-up to the polling then that the ruling party, Awami League, won 153 seats without contest. But the BNP-led alliance was in the race now to fight "to save democracy". Khaleda Zia is no more on the scene physically as she has been serving a 17-year imprisonment on graft charges. And the BNP-led alliance, now headed by 82-year-old author of the Bangladesh's constitution, Dr Kamal Hossain, was just no match for Sheikh Hasina, who by now has mastered the art of winning national election hands down. Yet she didn't take the risk of losing for the fourth term. In the run-up to the December 31 polling day, around 14,000 activists of the Opposition coalition were detained and about 12,000 activists injured in attacks by the ruling party workers. Fourteen people were killed in clashes between Awami League and BNP supporters, while three men were shot by police. If that was law and order condition preceding the national election one would like to know what for then the 600,000 police, army and security forces were on election duty. The BNP says there were "irregularities" in 221 of the 300 contested seats. There are reports that claim that a large number of women voters were forced to vote for the Awami League's symbol, boat.
Rejecting the outcome of this electoral exercise, the BNP-led alliance leadership has demanded of the election commission to hold fresh national election "under a neutral government". Although in most of genuinely democratic countries there is no provision for an interim arrangement, such a system is there in many developing countries, including Pakistan. All in all, she has won another term and her opponents have lost once again. Is it then that democracy in Bangladesh is in danger of being upstaged by the armed forces as is sometimes the case elsewhere? This is not the possibility. Hasina has won international recognition that under her control Bangladesh is on course to graduate from a Least Developing Country to a Middle Income Nation. Therefore, it is quite likely that the world may overlook the electoral scam in Bangladesh - a stance likely to be also influenced by her decision to open its door on Rohingya refugees fleeing the military crackdown in Myanmar.