Members of the country’s civil society have expressed mixed reactions over the standard of Sunday’s parliamentary elections, terming it peaceful and fair but exclusive.

They said voting did not witness any major allegation of rigging and voter intimidation by any particular candidate but it could have been a better one had BNP participated in it.

“BNP didn’t contest the election. Besides, it urged all to boycott it. Therefore, it was not easy to conduct the polls. Considering the overall political situation, I must say the election was a very good one,” Prof Mesbah Kamal of the Department of History at Dhaka University told the Daily Sun. But it could have been a better one had BNP taken part in it, he said.

Senior journalist MA Aziz questioned whether an election without the participation of all major political parties can be termed an election or not. “Five people were killed during electioneering. Violent attacks and displaying firearms were a regular phenomenon. How can I say it peaceful? There was no choice for the voters.”

“Awami League, its leaders as independents and its allies were the only aspirants. All knew beforehand which party would form the government and who would be the prime minister. Can we term it an election in the West Minister democratic system?” he added. MA Aziz also claimed that the actual voter turnout was not more than 20%-25%.

Former professor of Chittagong University’s public administration department Nizam Uddin Ahmed said the overall election was fair and peaceful.

“In 2014, some 153 candidates were elected unopposed and in 2018, there were allegations of rigging votes on the night before the election day. But this time there were no such issues. Some sporadic incidents of violence and clashes took place, which is normal in our political culture. But the overall polls were fair and peaceful,” he told the Daily Sun.

Senior lawyer of the Supreme Court ZI Khan Panna said the people could cast their votes in the election as they were not prevented by anyone. “It was a one-party election which was more or less fair and peaceful. But its acceptability would be determined later,” he said. Prof Mesbah Kamal also placed three proposals of ensuring proportional representation of the parties in parliament to bring a balance in the process, bicameral parliament to add contributions of successful professionals and introducing a shadow government system for formulating alternative policies.