In election observer parlance in Bangladesh–where telling blunt truths about government shenanigans can result in long residence behind bars as the internationally renowned photojournalist Shahidul Alam found out–it is known as the “Khulna model” of elections. Realizing that the brute manipulation of election results through blatant rigging alone is not considered polite these days, the Bangladeshi regime perfected more of a ‘portfolio management’ approach to elections during the municipal elections in the summer of 2018, with its apogee in the southwestern city of Khulna whence the moniker of the model was born.
The Khulna model reduced reliance on the crude stuffing of ballot boxes with bogus votes and, instead, enlarged the scope of manipulation to a larger sphere so that such 11th hour nastiness was not as necessary. There were five key elements in the model: cut off the head (arrest local Opposition leaders), disrupt communications (isolate Opposition candidates from their voters), frighten any voters not reliably in the Government camp, get the civil service to drag its feet on any instructions from the ostensibly neutral Election Commission, and, if all else fails, stuff ballot boxes the night before. By all accounts the model succeeded spectacularly as government candidates swept almost all city corporation polls in 2018 without the government having to resort to too many overtly strong arm tactics like the stuffing of ballots. One exception was the city of Sylhet where, thanks to strong diaspora connections the foreign media was watching closely and, despite valiant efforts of the police and administration, the Opposition candidate squeaked out a victory of a third of a percent.