Staff Reporter :
President Abdul Hamid will hold dialogue with the country’s all registered political parties after December 16 over the formation of a new Election Commission (EC) that will conduct the next general election scheduled to be held in 2019.
“The President will hold the dialogue as per the article 118 before appointing the Chief Election Commissioner and commissioners. The dialogue is expected to begin after December 16,” President’s Press Secretary Joynal Abedin told journalists on Tuesday morning.
In 2012, the then late President Zillur Rahman appointed the incumbent CEC Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad to lead the five-member EC through a search committee after holding meetings with political parties.
The tenure of current EC expires in February next. There are 40 registered political parties now in the country.
As the President Abdul Hamid on Tuesday left Dhaka for Singapore on a six-day visit for his medical checkup there, the dialogue is expected to take place after his return. The President is likely to return home on December 11.
As the tenure of the incumbent EC will expire in mid-February next and as Law Minister Anisul Huq on September 15 hinted that a search committee would be formed to constitute the new EC, major political partiers especially BNP continued to put pressure on the government to reconstitute the commission through dialogue.
They said any election without the participation of all parties must be a problematic one. “Reconstitute the EC on the basis of all political parties and create an environment so that all parties will participate in it”, they said.
Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad also made a five-point proposal, including enactment of laws, to constitute EC
Apart from the country’s political parties, members of civil society also called for initiating a process right now for the reconstitution of a strong EC on the basis of opinions of all political parties.
Besides, foreign diplomats also continued to support dialogue to achieve a political solution to reconstitute of EC.
Earlier on November 18, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia rolled out a 13-point proposal for reconstitution of the EC and urged the President to constitute a search committee on the basis of consensus among all registered political parties or the ones that had representation in the Parliament since the country’s independence.
Later on Saturday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a press conference said Khaleda Zia made her proposal; now she could tell the president about it, and he (President) would take the decision … she has nothing to say.
She added that according to the rules, the president may consider their proposal. Hasina, however, said there was nothing important in Khaleda Zia’s proposals.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Awami League Publicity and Publication Secretary Hasan Mahmud at a discussion in the city on Tuesday urged the President to reconstitute EC with in consultation with political parties having representation in the parliament.
Referring to submission of EC reconstitution proposal by BNP to the President, he hoped that the President would seek a proposal on the issue from the AL as the biggest party.
He urged the BNP leaders to abide by decision of the President regarding the EC reconstitution as they have submitted their proposals to him.
Meanwhile, BNP handed over its proposals to Bangabhaban on reconstitution of the EC, President’s Assistant Press Secretary Mahmudul Hasan said.
BNP’s vice-chairperson Major General (retd) Ruhul Alam Chowdhury and senior joint-secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi handed over the proposals to President’s Assistant Military Secretary Brigadier General Md Mainur Rahman at Bangabhaban
After submitting the proposals around 11:30am, Rizvi Ahmed expressed hope that President would consider their proposals and play a vital role in reconstituting a strong new EC.
Brig Gen Mainur Rahman, Assistant Military Secretary to the president, received the papers on behalf of the President as he left for Singapore on Tuesday morning.
