Prioritising local polls nothing but a plot to make country fragile: Fakhrul 

The secretary general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, has described prioritising local government polls over the parliamentary elections as a plot to lead the nation to a more fragile situation. 

“The sooner the national elections are held, the easier the politics will be. And the people will be in a stable situation,” he said at a press briefing at the BNP chairperson’s office in the capital’s Gulshan area on Thursday. 

While arguing in favour of his statement, the BNP leader noted two particular points behind their stance – restoring stability and introducing good governance in Bangladesh. 

Earlier in the day, a Jamaat delegation, led by its secretary general Mia Golam Parwar, met with the election commissioners and discussed different issues in the run up to the elections. The Jamaat leader told the media after the meeting that the local government polls should come first as per the aspirations of the people. 

When asked about the Jamaat’s stance, the BNP secretary general expressed his party’s view against prioritising the local government elections.  

“We absolutely do not agree on this point. Given the political context, it is nothing but a plot to take the country to a more fragile situation,” he noted. 

Mirza Fakhrul Islam also opposed Jamaat’s proposal to adopt proportional representation (PR) voting system in national elections. “PR-based voting system, we are dead set against it, we strongly oppose it. We will support no PR-based election system, there is no question.”