Youth Vote Matters

In a democratic system, every voter has the right to participate in the electoral process in a peaceful and safe environment. However, political violence is still inextricably linked to Bangladeshi politics, and election violence is a significant component of that violence. In the last few elections, the intensity and severity of violence have also increased. Violence has a number of consequences, including deaths, interference with campaigns, property destruction, and economic loss. Looking back on Bangladesh’s 2018 election, there were a series of savage attacks, especially on opposition party candidates, as well as fights between ruling and opposition party men, all centered on the general election. International bodies have called upon the government to ensure an environment “free of violence, intimidation and coercion” before, during and after the elections and have placed emphasis on holding a peaceful, credible, and inclusive poll. Election violence is a well-known phenomenon to the Bangladeshis, as they see people being maimed, slaughtered, and even killed during every national election. It has been an integral part of the political culture of violence, which is caused by the intolerance prevailing among the political parties. This causes fear for the women and intense apathy among the general youth towards participating in the election for using their voting rights. Acts of vandalism during the election trigger irreparable detriments to the national economy, as the infrastructures and public vehicles are ruined. Even in the last Uplozilla election, there were many youths who refrained from casting a vote. Fear among the voters has a direct impact on voter participation and as result voters couldn’t cast votes due to fear.

JAAGO Foundation plans to initiate a “Youth Vote Matters’ campaign in Bangladesh with the aim to increase youth participation in national elections through a huge array of awareness building within community engagement activities by mobilizing youth. Youth engagement and mobilization in the process of national development is one of the core missions, for this reason, JAAGO targets to impact the election environment by developing the capacity of the youth and turning them into the promoter and ambassadors of peace, where they will be motivated to refrain from violence instead of waging them. And by conducting community engagement activities and social media campaigns JAAGO plan to sensitize youth in 64 districts. As JAAGO has a huge young volunteer base countrywide (50,000 registered volunteers), the implementation of the planned activities for this campaign will be achieved in a befitting manner through appropriate culturally accepted activities while designing the project in 64 districts of the country.

Goal

To Ensure Bangladesh’s youth can play a meaningful role in shaping Bangladesh’s democratic future with the help of capacity-building and awareness-raising during the 2023 national elections.