Electoral Administration

Bangladesh has a unicameral Parliament consisting of 300 MPs elected by universal suffrage from single member territorial constituencies. Currently there is also provision for 45 additional seats for women MPs. These 45 seats are not directly elected, but are elected in the Parliament based on party representation. The President appoints the MP who “appears to command the support of the majority of the MPs” as Prime Minister. Ninety percent of ministers are required to be MPs.

Parliament is required to meet within 30 days of the declaration of the election results and then has a five year mandate. The tenure of the current Parliament expired on 27 October 2006. The Constitution specifies that elections have to be held within 90 days of this date, therefore by 25 January 2007.

The Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC) is a permanent body that is mandated to hold Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, to delimit constituencies and to prepare voter lists. During election periods it has at its disposal the resources of other government departments. Also, the Caretaker Government is required to “give to the Election Commission all possible aid and assistance that may be required for holding the general election of members of parliament peacefully, fairly and impartially.” In addition to the permanent BEC offices and staff, local government officials become responsible for administering the election and tabulating the results.

The BEC has extensive responsibilities and powers. As well as managing polling and the results process, it is mandated to conduct voter education, voter registration and candidate registration. It is also responsible for managing election-related complaints, including those related to campaign and media regulations. The BEC is also responsible for delimitation of constituencies. There was a large variation in the sizes of constituencies, ranging from approximately 100,000 to 620,000 voters. In the last election, the Awami League and BNP secured a very similar number of votes, but gained very different seat allocations. This resulted in calls for review of constituency de-limitations, as well as the electoral system in use.

The BEC has undertaken a fresh delimitation, which affects 133 out of 300 constituencies, finished in July 2008. The BEC adopted an average figure of approximately 267,000 voters per constituency and has thus re-allocated parliamentary seats to districts and divisions. The new allocation of seats has affected 16 of the 64 districts and four of the six divisions.

The Constitution provides for an independent Election Commission with extensive authority. It is led by a Chief Election Commissioner and an unspecified number of additional Commissioners, appointed by the President.

The Constitution does not require consultation on the appointment of Election Commissioners with political parties and other election stakeholders. Commissioners are appointed by the President for a five year term and can only be removed according to the procedures for removal of Supreme Court judges.

The Election Commission is currently headed by a Chief Election Commissioner, Dr. ATM Shamsul Huda and includes two more Election Commissioners, Muhammad Sahul Hossain and M. Sakhwat Hossain.

The BEC has a permanent Secretariat. Up to January 2007, the Election Commission Secretariat was staffed and financed by the Prime Minister’s Office, which caused serious concerns about its independence. However, the Secretariat is now linked to the Ministry of Law and Parliamentary Affairs, and its financial and administrative autonomy appears better catered-for. The Secretariat has permanent representation across Bangladesh. The country’s administrative organisation is used as a basis, but there is some variation: the BEC has nine regional offices, each headed by a Deputy Election Commissioner. It also has 83 District Offices, headed by District Election Officers. This means that some of the country’s 64 districts have more than one District Office.

In 2006 permanent sub-district election offices were established. In metropolitan areas these are called “Thana Election Offices” (26) and in rural areas, they are called “Upazila Election Offices” (481). As there are 300 constituencies, many will have more than one Upazila or Thana Election Office.

During the election period other local government structures become responsible for administering the election and aggregating the results. In particular, Deputy Commissioners (DCs), become Returning Officers (ROs) and therefore responsible for candidate nomination, election administration and the results process. During this period they also retain responsibility for their other duties, including control of magistrates and therefore law enforcing agencies. There are 68 DCs/ROs (one for each district with some additions).

Under the ROs, there are Upazila Nirgahi Officers (UNOs) in rural areas, and Thana Nirbahi Officers (TNOs) in metropolitan locations, who serve as Assistant Returning Officers (ARO).

Election Schedule

The election schedule was announced on 2 November, with polling scheduled for 18 December 2008. At the time of writing the schedule is as follows:

Voter List

Registration requires Bangladeshi citizenship, being 18 years old or more, not having been legally declared of unsound mind, and to be deemed by law to be a resident of that constituency. A resident is simply defined as someone who “ordinarily” resides in that electoral area.

A fresh voter registration process, based on a door-to-door enumeration campaign, was designed and carried out from August 2007 to early July 2008. It has been a largely successful exercise, leading to the production of a high-quality 81-million voter list with photographs. The voter registration exercise ended in October 2008, with the delivery of the last ID cards to eligible voters.

The new Final Voter List (FVL) is expected to be much more accurate and inclusive than the 2001 and 2006 ones, thanks to the elimination of a number of duplicates or erroneous entries in the previous voter list, as well as the registration of young voters and some marginalized segments of society. The European Commission and some EU member states are major contributors to the ‘Preparation of Electoral Roll with Photographs (PERP)’ project. The data collected for the voter list is being used to institute a national identity card scheme as well as a number of other applications.

The FVL was printed starting in mid-July and was completed on 14 October 2008, ready to be used for this election and to be distributed to every Polling Centre (PC). Political parties and candidates standing for election can obtain electronic copy of the FVL, without the photographs, and are allowed to print the list for the use of their agents on Election Day.

Candidate Nomination

Candidate nominations are filed in the constituency to the Returning Officer (RO) or Assistant Returning Officer (ARO). This requires a deposit of 10,000 Taka (approximately 115 Euro), which is returned upon securing more than one-eighth of the votes cast. The RO conducts a scrutiny of applications in public. Nominations require a proposer and seconder (who must both be registered voters) and signed declaration papers (which include an assets listing). Appeals against a decision to reject an application are made to the RO and must be submitted within three days to the BEC, whose decision is final. Accepted candidates are allocated symbols according to their party unless they are independent and a public announcement of the poll is made. Candidates have a period of five to six days from scrutiny of their nomination to withdraw.

Polling

Approximately 35,000 polling centres are planned, each one containing multiple booths (five on average) and each catering for 500 – 600 voters. Polling is from 8am to 4pm, with anyone in line at 4pm being eligible to cast their ballot. Voting will take place in male and female polling booths. Counting is conducted immediately afterwards at the polling centre. Counting is conducted immediately afterwards at the polling centre.

Postal voting in advance of election day is provided for those performing any duty in connection with the election (at a polling station at which they are not registered), civil service workers away from their home and their families, and persons detained in legal custody, but not for domestic observers. The individual is required to apply to the relevant Returning Officer, who must then send a ballot paper and envelope without delay for immediate completion and return to the Returning Officer.