THE June 23 editorial of the Daily Star says: "New controversies appear to be coming to the fore as the country prepares for the long awaited general elections by the end of the year. The major political parties have raised questions about the polls schedule for four city corporations and nine municipalities. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has rejected the schedule while the Awami League has described the move by the Election Commission as conspiratorial and farcical." These objections are threatening to drag the country into the pyre of partisan flames.

Thomas 'Tip' O'Neill -- a consummate politician and a legendary longtime speaker of the US House of Representatives -- once said: "All politics is local." He was elucidating how the issues and concerns of citizens in towns and cities around the country influence the policies and actions of their lawmakers in Washington. He was telling his audience that the electoral races for public offices at the local level are where real democracy is rooted and at work.

The phrase "all politics is local" may sound like over-simplification to politicians in Bangladesh -- but is a truism often ignored by our ill-educated and over-ambitious politicians.

In all politics, local affairs must form the political articulation of a party. In advanced democracies, participation in local elected government (LEG) is a stepping-stone to federal and state politics.

For example, in the USA over the last 100 years or so, state governors -- not federal senators or congressmen -- were elected presidents nearly 95% of the time. Don't forget, Barrack Obama was a South Chicago community activist, then a state senator, prior to getting elected to the US Senate, and is now the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.

Participation in LEG allows one to formulate policies, and influence local issues and their executions. LEG is where politicians master the art of interacting with real people -- knowing their concerns and finding possible solutions through political participation.

Local elections are, and should be, about local affairs. Election issues at the local level should remain independent of national issues, although there could be overlapping or cross-over penetrations of national political issues.

In all advanced democracies, LEG delivers public services and plays a central role in the discharge of "good governance." With the realisation that LEG is responsive to the needs of the people, South Africa, in 1997, restructured its LEGs and made them the epicenter of developmental activities. This restructuring brought a discernible U-turn of postcolonial models of state-led development in South Africa, which Bangladesh must also emulate this time around.

As I wrote in another piece: How many of our politicians elected to the national assembly have any prior experience of working in LEG? Not too many -- probably none.

However, once elected to the parliament, their link with the political offices at the local level is maintained primarily for "carving a cut" from development and infrastructure related projects.

The objections of the two parties against the scheduling of elections in selected cities and municipalities may be summarised from what all of us already know:

• Constitutional provisions allow the CTG to hold only parliamentary election;
  
  
• Holding local government elections (LGE) in selected cities and municipalities is discriminatory, given that the entire county's local body polls are long past due;
  
  
• Holding LGE will undercut parliamentary election;
  
  
• BNP and AL think that the CTG may have an insidious blueprint for implanting an administrative or political power base around the country at the local level to perpetuate power.

These arguments may be portrayed as attempts simply to create a miasma of doubt about the intentions of the CTG, as if it has some arcane plan to move away from the roadmap to national election.

The constitutional argument may have some validity, but only under normal circumstances. If the argument of constitutionality is to be strictly adhered to then the existence of the CTG itself is unconstitutional, and the national election it will hold should also be deemed unconstitutional exercise of power. The tenure of this CTG is long over -- 13 months ago. So why keep beating the broken drum?

If the conspiracy theory has any kernel of validity then the CTG would have asked the EC to schedule countrywide local elections. About holding the upazila elections, communications adviser Ghulam Quader asserted that the High Court had laid down strong and clear instructions in this regard.

Now let's analyse what is at stake for the politicians.

The CTG's proposal to extricate parliament members' influence and piracy over the LEG is the primary objection of the political parties. The implementation of the proposal will be a breakthrough for the people and a lose-lose deal for local MPs. It will undoubtedly make LEG officials much more effective, and attentive to local needs.

BNP's and AL's demand to hold national election ahead of the local is a trap -- one that would perpetuate local MPs influence on local affairs. It is through the local elected officials that political parties maintain their power base -- one they use to buy votes and flex muscles for reelections. Who wants to lose such a power base?

A rough estimate would show that nearly 80% of the MPs represent each upazila as their constituency. Each MP acts like a de-facto governor/adviser of his/her constituency. He/she becomes the chairperson of managing committees of all local colleges and schools (example Choudhagram upazila under Comilla district), controls hiring of principals, head masters and other staffs. That may be the reason why the quality of education follows the quality of the lawmakers. The LEG without the acquiescence of local MPs can do nothing important.

Neither AL nor BNP has any convincing explanation as to why each dilly-dallied in holding local elections over the last 15 years. Neither party has any compelling reasons to boycott, or attempt to foil, the local elections -- they can only cry out "don't make our MPs powerless."

The people would greatly benefit from decentralisation of power from the national government -- the gainers here are the local people and losers are the corrupt politicians.

Despite the threats of boycotting the local elections by both BNP and AL central party leaders, the grassroots level leaders have already started campaigns for the local polls. They vowed to participate in the elections, even if under a different banner. Hopefully, this may be the beginning of the end of the culture of embroiled political impasses often created by the national leaders for their self-serving and self-aggrandising benefit.

Dr. Abdullah A. Dewan is Professor of Economics at Eastern Michigan University and a board member of Change Bangladesh Organization USA.

IT is with considerable disquiet that we read the news of the resurfacing of many alleged criminals and corrupt strong-men in advance of the four city corporation polls to be held on August 4. If the polls are to be credible and acceptable to the public, it is incumbent on the authorities to ensure that they remain clean and above board in every way.

Many of those who are now resurfacing to test the waters are in fact previously elected commissioners who abandoned their positions and fled than face the law post 1/11. Some have been charged with crime and bailed, some are absconders, and some have not been charged with any offence but are notorious in their localities and had fled pre-emptively before any charges could be filed.

These polls are a test not only for the Election Commission, but of the entire justification for the caretaker government's extended tenure. The caretaker government's entire tenure has been predicated on its pledge and the people's expectations that it will clean things up and deliver free and fair elections. Now that the country has come so far, it would be a huge disappointment if the political scene were to revert to the way it was before.

As it happens, stringent provisions detailing who may and may not be a candidate exist in the law. In addition, there are also many requirements such as publication of full personal details that it is incumbent on a candidate to produce for the public. It is for the EC to ensure that these regulations are fully enforced. Of course, responsibility lies with the public to ensure that such candidates are not elected even if they are able to run.

The public does not wish to be terrorised by criminals running for election any more, and after 16 months of patiently living under a state of emergency and an extended period of caretaker government, it does not expect, nor will it tolerate, a return to the bad old days when criminals and local strong-men dominated.

This will be a test of the EC's efficiency as well as the effectiveness of the government's measures to clean up politics. The authorities must seriously deliberate on the options before them under the law to ensure that the polls are not hijacked and that people have the chance to vote for good candidates without fear.

MOST political observers reckon that Bangladesh may have plunged into yet another period of political uncertainty. It is probably naive to expect that the present caretaker government will be able to put an end to these long periods of political deadlock very easily. However, with the departure of Sheikh Hasina for treatment abroad and the expected release of Begum Zia and her two sons, perhaps there is a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel. Some may criticise the caretaker regime for flip-flops, but an overwhelming majority may approve of "constructive engagement" with the two major parties, so that we can finally have an agreement that will make our elections conform to modern democratic practices, and their results will be accepted without the rancorous disputes we normally see in our country. Bangladesh needs to move beyond the corruption scandal. But before it does, the people have to know exactly what happened, regardless of the precise legality of each case.

The last thing this impoverished country needs now is another period of political turmoil and economic chaos. The horror of political turmoil is that those who suffer most are those who deserve to suffer least. Some economic observers, long mystified by Bangladesh's ability to live beyond its means and postpone what they see as an unavoidable economic crisis, think that the country might be finally running out of luck.

Skyrocketing food and fuel prices have already sparked protests in many countries. Naturally, Bangladesh will be one of the hardest hit countries, because the bulk of the income of the people is spent on the bare necessities for survival.

Doubling of food and fuel prices over the past three years could potentially push millions of people into extreme poverty. World Bank President Robert Zoellick and IMF head Dominique Strauss voiced concern and fear that soaring grain and fuel prices could cause global instability unless remedies were found quickly. There is no lasting solution to our economic backwardness without rapid and sustained economic growth.

It is a widely held view that political stability is sine qua non for long-term peace and prosperity. Chronic political instability is a big obstacle to injecting fresh vitality into our economy. Most economists reckon that Bangladesh's "speculative" rating is a major disqualification for FDI. International rating agencies, such as Standard & Poor's and Moody's are yet to acknowledge that Bangladesh is worth investing in.

Unless rating agencies raise the country's rating from "speculative" to "investment grade," Bangladesh will not be able to attract much needed investment in development projects such as highways, ports, education and health care. Countries such as South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand, which have invested substantially in literacy and public health, have outperformed their neighbours economically. Sovereign rating on Bangladesh will remain beyond reach because of the country's weak fiscal profile -- such as high levels of external debt, unacceptably large trade deficit and huge public sector borrowing requirement.

Make no mistake, capital is not sympathetic to countries that tax too much, borrow too much and spend too much. Studies have found that there are lots of things these days that naive politicians and bureaucrats should not be doing. For example, printing money to finance reckless borrowing, raising taxes so high as to discourage enterprise and investment, and introducing or preserving regulations that impose high costs on business and distort economic decisions. Bangladesh's future depends on its increasing integration into regional and global economies. Unfortunately, Bangladesh is still in a state of dangerous political disarray.

People wonder whether we can save our democracy from the viciously confrontational two-party politics. The eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth politics of the last few years was a national embarrassment, except that perhaps no politician felt embarrassed. They are virtually unrepentant about their obscene political past and the countless allegations of bribery and corruption. The traditional politics of left and right, at least in terms of class and economics, is obsolescent in many countries. Sadly enough, in Bangladesh old politics are very much well and alive. Party loyalties, based on old class and religious identities, still matter most.

Millions of Bangladeshis in cities and suburbs view voting for anyone other than the BNP and the Awami League as more or less unthinkable. In our county, politics is still dominated by change-resistant dynasties, which limits voter choice. The majority of voters are generally ignorant of the specific policies of the party they support. Issues and policies just do not matter when it comes to voting. Long established party identifications come first. Our maverick politicians are well aware of the fact that elections are about the victory of one party over another, and the bottom line is that, in Bangladesh, it is either the BNP or the Awami League. Consequently, both the major parties' campaign themes are simply winning the election and take over from the present caretaker government.

They have not worked out exactly how they will address deep-rooted economic and political problems that the country faces today. They look incapable of dealing with the daunting economic and social problems of today's world. Western powers demand democracy. One wonders why. The notion that elections will magically cure all our economic and political ills is a mistaken one. The origins of economic and political problems are more complex than a simple lack of democracy. Many liberal intellectuals and academics misunderstand the nature of our political problem. The man in the street evinces little faith in the 'democracy' he has experienced. People do not want to go back to the old days.

They were really horrified by the upsurge of crime and rampant corruption. It made us squirm to think how badly politicians had messed up the politics of this country in the name of democracy. Does democracy curb corruption? The answer is apparently 'no' for us. By almost all calculations, most corruption and scandals take place in such democracies. Transparency International, a global counter-corruption watchdog estimated that light-fingered politicians and bureaucrats cream off at least 20 percent of development spending in democracies like Nigeria, Indonesia, Bangladesh and India.

Can democracy destroy terrorism? Again the answer is, no. Unfortunately most terrorist attacks take place in democracies, not authoritarian countries. According to one study, during the last 25 years, there were more than 400 terrorist attacks in India and only 18 in China.

The majority believes that the caretaker government is seeking to strengthen our democracy and restore a sense of values to this confused nation. There are ample signs that many people are disenchanted with "democracy" as practiced in recent years in Bangladesh. Surely they do not want shrewd political opportunists seizing the chance again.

We cannot keep doing what we are doing now, particularly in the current economic climate. The forthcoming election will be a turning point, whether we go forward or slip back. Let us resolve our differences and work together to realise our cherished dreams.

Anam A. Choudhury is a former investment banker