The interim administration of Fakhruddin Ahmed had to compromise with the political parties and slow down its drive against corruption towards the end of its tenure for the sake of conducting the national elections, said communications adviser Ghulam Quader on Thursday.

‘The anti-graft drive slowed down gradually as we had to compromise with political parties for holding the elections,’ Quader, who is also leading the five-member panel of advisers which carries out political negotiations, told reporters at the secretariat. He said that the government had eventually understood that the holding of the elections to the ninth parliament would not be possible if the top leaders of the two major political parties —Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia — are excluded from the political process.

Terming the December 29 elections a benchmark for a free and fair election, the adviser said that polling here was much better than the presidential elections in the USA because of many considerations.

Quader, also a retired army official, said that Awami League should be extremely careful and ensure good governance as it is going to form the government after a landslide victory in the elections and the people’s expectations are very high. ‘It is not a pleasant victory for Awami League…It will have to face trouble if it is not careful from the beginning. The trend of winner takes all must be brought to an end,’ he added, pointing out that almost the entire nation had given it the responsibility to run the country.

The interim government, according to the adviser, has prepared policy papers to help the next government continue the development activities as initiated by it on a priority basis. ‘We have prepared some policy papers. We will provide them to the various ministries if the new government wants any suggestions from us.’

In the elections to the ninth parliament, the Awami League itself bagged 230 seats while its major rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, got only 29 out of 299 seats.

Quader opined that all, including the vulnerable groups, were able to cast their votes freely. ‘The common people’s expectations were reflected in the election results.’ When he was asked to comment on Khaleda Zia’s allegations that the polls were rigged in many areas, he said the election was completely free and fair. ‘Everyone concerned should convince her that there was no conspiracy, no rigging in the elections…She will then understand the truth.’

Giving the reasons for BNP’s poor performance in the polls, the adviser said that the results had shown that the voters had not forgotten in two years the corruption of the immediate past elected government. Moreover, the BNP had not seemed to be really serious about the elections, Quader added.

The adviser urged that the new government to keep the administration free of political influence and interference.