Donald Lu’s letter won’t affect election schedule: EC secretary

The letter of US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu, won’t affect the election commission’s decision to announce the schedule of 12th parliamentary elections, EC secretary Jahangir Alam stated categorically on Tuesday.

The commission is not aware of whether the letter to the three political parties is about requests to hold dialogues as the letter did not come to the commission, he added.

Speaking to the media at the EC in the afternoon, Jahangir Alam stated that the newspersons will be informed at 10:00 Wednesday about when and how the election schedule will be announced.

The EC secretary insisted that the commission will move ahead following the already announced roadmap due to constitutional obligations.

Earlier, the US on Monday sent a letter to three main political parties urging them to sit for dialogue over the forthcoming parliamentary elections without any preconditions.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jatiya Party (JaPa) have received the letter but governing Awami League did not get it as of Tuesday. Prothom Alo could not learn whether the party got the letter as of 2:00 pm on Tuesday.

In this context, EC sources informed Prothom Alo on Tuesday morning that the election commission has convened a meeting regarding announcing the schedule of 12th parliamentary elections.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal is likely to announce the schedule while addressing the nation on Wednesday afternoon following a meeting. The election is likely to take place in the first week of January.

There has not been any political consensus on the nature of election-time government among the political parties.

BNP has already announced that it won’t take part in any parliamentary election under the incumbent government. The party has been enforcing programmes like strike and blockade demanding resignation of the government while Awami League has been preparing for the election.

The AL leaders have been saying that the election would be held as per the constitution.

The EC usually holds a meeting before announcing the polls schedule. A speech of CEC is then recorded for state television and radio where the schedule is announced.

EC sources said the following the meeting, the CEC’s address to the nation might be telecast live at around 7:00 pm.