Bangladesh’s electoral future looks bleak, according to a seasoned US scholar who predicts the national polls will ring hollow without key players. Michael Rubin, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, charges that excluding powerhouse parties undermines any claim to fairness or freedom.
Queried by IANS on vote integrity, Rubin responded decisively: ‘Bangladesh will have no free and fair election at all.’ Open competition among broadly backed parties is non-negotiable for legitimacy, he maintained, slamming the anti-Awami League campaign as fear-mongering.
Chief adviser Muhammad Yunus, who stepped in on August 8, 2024, alongside Jamaat-e-Islami, seeks to proscribe the former ruling party – a move Rubin interprets as admission of certain loss in a real contest. Washington’s blind eye to ensuing violence amplifies the peril.
Rubin, speaking at an Institute for Strategic Dialogue event, evoked a ‘slow-motion train wreck’ for US policy. He refuted spontaneous protest tales from 2024, drawing unflattering parallels to sham elections in Soviet and Iranian playbooks.
Foreign intrigue looms large: Rubin detailed ‘solid’ evidence of Pakistan bankrolling a Jamaat-linked student party with irredentist ambitions. He chided envoys for cloistered perspectives, reliant on flawed contacts that mislead policymakers.
As voting day nears, Rubin’s clarion call spotlights Bangladesh’s dilemma. Prioritizing exclusion over inclusion invites not resolution, but escalation. Stakeholders worldwide should push for pluralism to rescue democracy from the brink.