What sways the voter perception

A local think tank, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), last Saturday (February 9) presented the findings of a survey it conducted on what the voters as well as political party representatives and candidates understood by the word 'development'. The result of the survey, as expected, was like this:  to over 75 per cent of the voters, development meant construction of physical infrastructure. In other words, to them development is building roads, bridges, other structures, etc.   About same percentage of voters believe that development occurs when everyone is employed. Candidates vying for parliamentary election, too, have an identical view of development. Evidently, the purpose of the survey was to know which issues, according to the voters, the future government should give the highest priority to: development of physical infrastructures, generation of electricity, creation of jobs, etc.,  or the issues of sustainability of social welfare, freedom of expression, rights, etc. 

In fact, one could come to the same conclusion without even conducting any survey on the subject. For, in a society that is aspiring to uplift itself to a developing nation from a least developed one, better roads, bridges, etc., to facilitate faster connectivity with the centres of business and industrial activities is a natural expectation of the general public. Also, better communication facility means faster movement to the place of work. So, that consideration of better mobility will obviously dominate the perception of the working people who are also voters. However, the common voters also see that the developed countries have highly developed physical infrastructures. So, in their perception, it is obviously an important indicator of development and, as such, they would also want to see their own country in that light. From that point of view, one might expect that the political party with the best promises on development in its election manifesto would come off with flying colours. But in reality, voters usually do not cast their votes, if they are allowed to, depending on party manifestoes. Traditionally, in this part of the world, voters' decision is often influenced by party loyalty/affiliation and not exactly by what promises the candidates make before election or what the respective political parties' manifestos contain. Now, the question is: will the voters at the voting booths on February 12 cast their votes according to their traditional choices or will personal quality and past records of the candidates determine the voters' choice? Many believe, the voting public's perception of politics has undergone a qualitative shift in the 'post-July 2024 upsurge' dispensation. This time the personal history and quality of the candidates might influence the voters' decision more than just party symbol. So, from that perspective, February 12 is going to be a testing ground for that view-whether the July upsurge left a permanent impact on the common people's perception of politics or not. What is more, if the voters are able to exercise their voting right according to what they think good for their own locality or for the nation at large, that would also be a change of consequence in the voters' mindset. So, we would have to wait until the February 12 to know what the voters have really in their mind.

But the conductors of the survey in question were perhaps trying to assess if the voters cared about quality of life and, if such considerations were part of their expectations in the upcoming election. But a society that can hardly ensure the most basic needs of life, such as, two square meals a day, the idea of 'quality of life', is quite alien to the public.  However, to the members of 'the urban middle income group' of even a developing economy like Bangladesh, quality of life may be an important consideration. However, the idea of 'quality of life' again is borrowed from the West, where their citizens/voters are in a condition that can be termed 'post-material'. In a post-material mindset, it is said that the citizens' perception of life is a value-based one. That means, they would stress issues like self-expression, personal freedom, recognition of different orientations of sex and the rights derived from such recognition by the state and society in general.  However, of late, nativism, anti-immigrant views or the lack of the so-called higher values of democracy seem to dominate the voters' mind in the West. Worse, the 'perception of right' is also sometimes selective, i.e.,  biased by colour, religion, etc. 

Let us assume that such negative aspects of the advanced societies are just aberrations and not the general trend.  In that case, it can be said that given the fact that the  basic needs of the peoples in those developed societies have been fulfilled, their citizens can afford to realise higher values of life. But in reality, such value-oriented developed society is but a utopia that exists only in the development literatures and the slogans of various rights groups. In fact, problems like job insecurity and even poverty are rampant in many of the so-called advanced economies/societies. In place of higher values, what one finds in profusion in the so-called advanced societies is widespread cynicism. The perception of majority of their voters (who are obviously not well-off), too, is dominated by mundane issues like employment, reducing cost of living, health care, etc. So, these demands, too, are down-to-earth and resemble those in least developed economy like Bangladesh. Yes, there are other demands, but those have more to do with cultural characteristics than natural demands of an economically advanced society.  However, the conclusion derived from the findings of the survey in question, according to CPD researchers that 95 per cent of the voters, respondents of the survey to be specific, are optimistic about building a green society in Bangladesh does not also appear to be a revelation. For respondents  in their late thirties had observed how their parents would pine for the days of yore  when their world was greener and not spoiled by the present-day craze for development. So, some of the respondents might also imagine such days in the future when the madness for growth and development would be over and a greener world that their parents were so obsessed with could finally be restored. 

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