While even the international media had gotten in on the mainstream narrative that Manjur, the BNP backed candidate would lose the Chittagong Mayoral election, he won out in the last count–and by an impressive, incontestable 95,528 votes.
Mr. Mohammed Manjur Alam polled 479, 145 to the Awami League candidate, Mr. ABM Mohiudddin Chowdhury’s 383617 votes.
Manjur had long been expected to lose the election. The BNP had gotten ahead of the vote and had challenged any prospective vote rigging that might have occurred. Indeed, even though the polling had proceeded largefully peacefully, this is an unexpected result.
Mr. Mohiuddin, the AL backed candidate was the incumbent mayor of Chittagong and had served in that capacity since 1994, when the first election for Mayor of Chittagong was called. The incumbency bias was not strong enough to maintain the status quo ante; a new executive has come into power, backed by the BNP opposition party.
This is, then, the first transition in office between the two leading parties for the executive office of, Chittagong, the second most important city in Bangladesh. Chittagong’s mayoralty has ceded power for the first time in sixteen years and that transitions appears to have gone by smoothly. This is news worthy of public exaltation and political.
The mayor-elect has claimed to want to reach out to his predecessor for advice. If he reaches out and Mohiuddin responds in kind, the people of Chittagong will have been well-served. Already Manjur has begun to speak of all the work that needs to be done to improve social services in the city. If he moves swiftly and demonstrates that he can be a successful chief executive of a crucially important city, he’ll have shown himself ready for higher office.
Indeed, his selection within the highest ranks of the BNP might offer the only opportunity to realign all the discordant political views within the broader right-leaning coalition. This overdue move to inject internal party democracy within the BNP might even serve to garner majority support within the next few election cycles.
