ELECTION COMMISSION ANNOUNCES NEXT STEPS REGARDING

UNCLAS DHAKA 003454

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV BG
SUBJECT: ELECTION COMMISSION ANNOUNCES NEXT STEPS REGARDING
VOTER LIST



1. Summary. Nearly three weeks after the Supreme Court
announced its nullification of the "fresh" voter list, and a
week after receiving the formal court order, the Election
Commission (EC) finally met on June 12 to discuss
implementation of the decision. The steps announced by the EC
include several controversial measures that have provoked a
fresh wave of criticism. With the opposition demanding
changes in the composition of the EC as a requirement to
participate in the coming parliamentary elections, the
controversy is unlikely to end soon.


2. On June 12 the EC met to discuss next steps after having
received the certified Supreme Court verdict last week which
declared the new voter list illegal. At the meeting, the EC
decided on the following steps:

- As per the Supreme Court decision, the EC will scrap the
new voters list it started in January and use the 2000 voters
list as a starting point.

- The EC will not conduct a new door-to-door enumeration.
First-time voters will be required to visit a local election
commission office to register.

- The EC will launch a public information campaign to raise
awareness among voters on how to register or file claims and
objections.

- The EC may opt to use some of the information gathered
during the recent controversial voter enumeration process
with the new voter list.

- From July 1 to July 31 field-level election officials will
begin the process of preparing a supplemental list that will
include new voters and make note of disqualified voters from
the 2000 list.

- If a citizen has a claim or objection, s/he can visit a
district election office or assistant registration office to
obtain the proper forms for corrections, additions or
deletions.

- The EC did not provide a timeframe for when the final
supplementary voter list would be published.


3. According to the EC's statement, this will be the first
election since 1991 in which the onus of registration for
first-time voters shifts from the EC to the individual voter.
In all prior elections, and in the process of preparing the
controversial "fresh" list that the Supreme Court
invalidated, the EC hired enumerators to conduct a
door-to-door registration campaigne.


4. The EC also stated that it would not publish a draft list,
but instead would only publish a supplementary list
indicating changes since 2000. This means that on Election
Day poll workers will have to review two lists -- the 2000
list and the updated supplementary list.

Comment
--------------


5. Several of the EC's decisions on implementing the Supreme
Court decision are controversial and could prove onerous to
execute. Shifting the responsibility to register new voters
from the EC to the voters, changing more than 15 years of
precedent, will require the type of sustained public
information campaign that the EC has been noticeably
incapable of organizing to date. In addition, the decision to
prepare a large supplementary list to reflect additions,
deletions and corrections to the 2000 list could prove a
major source of confusion and delay in the polling stations
on Election Day.


6. The appointment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) M.A.
Aziz has been contentious from the beginning, and these steps
will not assuage his critics. With the recent Awami
League-led "siege of Dhaka" aimed at ousting the CEC, it
would appear that any decisions taken by the EC at this point
-- no matter how credible -- will be highly scrutinized and
viewed with mistrust. The opposition has declared that they
will not accept any list prepared under the current EC
administration. If a compromise cannot be reached, the
integrity of the election process will continue to suffer.
BUTENIS