Govt statement on election unclear, disappointing: Fakhrul

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party does not find the election timeframe mentioned by the chief adviser of the interim government, to be justified.

The party's secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, "We had hoped the chief adviser would come up with a roadmap. But he did not. This has disappointed us."

Mirza Fakhrul was speaking at a press briefing in the morning today (Thursday) at the BNP chairperson's office. BNP's standing committee held a meeting yesterday (Wednesday). The press conference was held to brief the media about the decisions taken at the meeting.

Speaking about the election, the BNP secretary general told the media briefing, "The election commission has been formed, but we see no preparation to hold the election."

Concerning the election time frame, the BNP secretary general said that the chief adviser's address to the nation and his press secretary's statement were contradictory. He said, "We don't understand which statement is the correct one."

BNP standing committee meeting decisions were presented in writing at the press briefing. It was said that the meeting had discussed the speech delivered to the nation by chief adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus, followed by the details of the press secretary's deliberations on the speech later at a press conference.

BNP's standing committee feel Dr Muhammad Yunus' did not make a clear statement about the election in his speech. While his speech did make mention of a possible time for the election, there was no clear roadmap in this regard.

It was also said at the standing committee meeting that Dr Muhammad Yunus had given the tentative time for the election to be somewhere between the end of 2025 and the first half of 2026, but this was totally vague and unspecific. Yet his press secretary said that the election would be held by June 2026. This was contradictory. The meeting felt that such contradictory statements created confusion.

The BNP secretary general further stated that their policymaking forum, the standing committee, felt that it was possible to carry out the election-related reforms soon and hold the election. The people expected a specific statement from the chief adviser in this regard.

A specific date for the election could be fixed by means of discussions with the political parties and other stakeholders, he added.

The BNP standing committee meeting held on Wednesday night was presided over by the party acting chairman Tarique Rahman.

President at the meeting were members of the national standing committee Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Abdul Moyeen Khan, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Amir Kharsu Mahmud Chowdhury, Salahuddin Ahmed, Begum Selima Rahman Maj (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed Bir Bikrom and AZM Zahid Hossain.