Politics of an Election

Afshin wrote [See comments to Subscription]

"Few days back a confession by a JMB activist caught my eye. He was an ex-shibir. He told that he became disillutioned when comming to power Jaamat dropped its jehadi attitude and nolonger inspired its members on the path of shahadat. Hence he joins JMB."

One thing that we fail to realise that the last time that Jamaat contested a national level of elections was in 1996! See the last polls they were only present in some of the seats that they got as a part of their pre-poll Alliance. What that means that by the time 2007 Jan polls come around Jamaat would have been absent in national electoral politics for 10 years!

Anyone who has seen a poll in Bangladesh knows that Election is a big money game. Huge amounts of funds are pumped into the constituency. Win or loose each party uses this event to rejuvenate its support base and organization. Like that of any team sports game, the elections allow parties to build morale, identify its strengths and weakness, and re-introduce their reason of being to the general public.

As Jamaat hasn’t had the opportunity to do so in the last 10 years means that a lot of their “cadre” will become disillusioned and look for alternatives.