BANGLADESH Dhaka, the Electoral Commission rejects electronic voting

Given the lack of funds and time to implement the electronic system, paper ballots will be used. The decision was adopted with the approval of the Executive and was received favorably by the opposition, whose main concern is having an interim government during the elections. The electoral call will be between December of this year and January 2024.

Dhaka () – The National Election Commission has declared that in the upcoming elections paper ballots will be used in the 300 parliamentary polling stations, instead of electronic voting machines (or EVMs). The news was released yesterday at a press conference at the Agargaon Commission headquarters in the capital Dhaka. The president of the institution, Kazi Habibul Awal, stated: “The Election Commission has decided to use only paper ballots due to the lack of political consensus on the use of EVM and the shortage of funds. The decision was made with the approval of the government”.

Most political parties have expressed doubts, distrust and skepticism regarding the use of EVM proposed by the Election Commission, which argues that electronic voting cannot be rigged, an argument also supported by the Awami League, the ruling party. The Commission added that the decision to remove the electronic voting machines is due to the lack of time to implement the system before the elections, which will take place between December of this year and January 2024.

“In our electoral roadmap, we had decided to use EVMs in 150 constituencies, at most,” explained Commission Secretary Md Jahangir Alam. “In this sense, a project of 80,000 million taka (less than 695 million euros) had been launched, but it will not go ahead.”

Agriculture Minister Mohammad Abdur Razzaque said he is in favor of the use of EVMs in the upcoming general elections: “There is some controversy about EVMs, but the fact is that many countries use them and we as the Awami League support their However, the global economic crisis is also affecting Bangladesh, therefore, keeping this context in mind, the Election Commission has decided to hold the elections by conventional vote.”

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, a member of the leading opposition force, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, stated that it is not important to them whether the vote is by EVM or by ballot. “The main obstacle to a free and fair vote is the electoral system. We have called for elections under an interim government. For us, the important thing is to know which government will be in power during the elections, so we do not want to give importance to whether the Voting is done through EVM or electoral ballots”.

The Electoral Commission added that the EVM system will continue to be used in the five municipal elections prior to the national elections.

In recent weeks, Bangladesh has attended days of protest against the Awami League, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The opposition accuses her of having won the last elections through fraud and calls for the institution of an interim government to avoid similar situations. The government responded with repression: Banned protest rallies and jailed activists and leaders of other parties.