text: NCP chief #NahidIslam's recent comments on barring the Awami League from participating in #elections is clear evidence of their lack of commitment towards #democracy. 
  
  In their launch event, Convener of the newly launched Nat'l Citizens Party (NCP), the party formed by some of the student leaders who led the anti-Awami League protests last year, Nahid Islam stated that they want to build a discrimination-free "inclusive" society. Despite such pledges, he is unapologetically advocating for the disenfranchisement of one of the largest political groups in the country. 
  
  In a revent interview with the @Diplomat_APAC, Nahid said without hesitation, "No, we don’t want the #AwamiLeague to participate in the elections."
  
  Consider for a moment the real life implications of what Nahid is suggesting: the Awami League has historically pulled around 1/3rd of total votes in all national elections. Bangladesh has around 120 million voters (Election Commission, Jan 2024). Thus, what Nahid is suggesting is to deprive all the voters of their free choice, and excluding almost 4 million voters from exercising their democratic franchise. 
  
  This would be in blatant disregard of the int'l guidelines on electoral standards, incl. the UN and EU's, which refer to the significance of elections being inclusive, both in terms of those who vote, and those who contest, in elections. 
  
  No matter how badly Nahid and his party "wants" Awami League to be kept out of elections, in reality, without the AL's participation, no elections in Bangladesh (whether national or local) will be inclusive and in turn, credible. 
  
  As far as we know, Bangladesh's int'l friends have also, in no uncertain terms, communicated to the Interim Govt that they would like to see "inclusive elections". If the AL is forcibly kept out of the process, any resulting electoral outcomes will not be accepted by the int'l community. Additionally, any govt formed under such a flawed process will not be stable.
  
  Nahid and the NCP often like to say that in Aug 2024, the people of Bangladesh gave them their clear mandate, and demonstrated their lack of confidence in the AL. If that is indeed the case, then why are they so scared to put those claims to the test by letting the people decide freely? 
  
  #BangladeshCrisis #Election2025 #BangladeshTurmoil #Democracy #BangladeshElection #NahidIslam #MuhammadYunus @Chellaney
tweet_hashtags: #NahidIslam #democracy #elections