Published: 17 January 2024
Full Report Release Date: 29 May 2024
Background and Rationale
A prerequisite for the effective continuation of a parliamentary democratic system is a free, transparent, impartial, competitive, participatory, and inclusive election. To ensure acceptable elections, the government and political parties have taken various institutional and political reform initiatives since the 1990s. Moreover, related laws, including reform of the Election Commission, have been amended from time to time to strengthen and enhance participation in the electoral process. Despite these efforts, past national parliamentary elections have seen various irregularities, violations of electoral codes of conduct, controversial roles of stakeholders involved in election management, and challenges in organizing acceptable elections (TIB 2007, 2009, 2018).
There are numerous challenges in ensuring opposition parties' participation and creating an enabling electoral environment. Repeated controversial amendments to the Representation of the People Order (RPO), disputes in political party and observer registration, and weaknesses in the electoral system have raised public concern about elections. In continuation of TIB’s previous research on Bangladesh’s Election Commission and electoral process, this study was conducted to assess the participation of major political parties in the 12th National Parliamentary Election, stakeholder roles, compliance with election laws and codes of conduct by competing candidates, and the overall election process.
Objective of the Research
The main objective of this study is to track how free, transparent, impartial, competitive, participatory, and inclusive the 12th National Parliamentary Election process was. The specific objectives are:
- ▪ To review the roles of key stakeholders in ensuring a free, transparent, impartial, competitive, participatory, and inclusive election and electoral environment;
- ▪ To review the compliance with electoral laws and codes of conduct by stakeholders at various stages of the election; and
- ▪ To analyze the election campaign expenses of contesting candidates.
Click below for details—
