President’s dialogue on EC formation starts Monday

President Abdul Hamid will begin the dialogue with registered political parties on Monday to discuss issues relating to the reconstitution of the Election Commission (EC), reports UNB.

The dialogue is formally going to start with the main opposition -- Jatiya Party (JaPa) -- in Parliament.

An eight-member delegation of Jatiya Party will participate in the dialogue with the president to be held at 4.00pm on Monday at Bangabhaban, president's press secretary Joynal Abedin told the newspersons.

JaPa chairman GM Quader will lead his party’s delegation.

The parties that have representation in Parliament have already been invited to join the talks, Joynal said.

The five-year tenure of the incumbent commission, led by chief election commissioner KM Nurul Huda, will expire on 14 February next.

Now there are 39 registered political parties, according to the EC website. But only nine parties have representation in parliament.

These nine parties are - Bangladesh Awami League, Jatiya Party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Workers Party of Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, Ganoforum, Bangladesh Tarikat Federation and Jatiya Party-JP.

One of the major parties, BNP, still did not make its position clear whether it will join the talks with the president or not.

A senior leader wishing anonymity said their party may not join the talks as they think the new EC will be formed as per the ruling party’s wish.

He said they have a plan to send a letter to the president giving their observations and recommendations on the reconstitution of the EC instead of joining the dialogue.

Earlier in December 2016, president Abdul Hamid had a series of talks with the registered political parties over the EC’s reconstitution that began with the first meeting with a delegation of BNP.

Later, a six-member search committee was formed to recommend names for the chief election commissioner and election commissioners.

The search committee sought five names from every political party. The committee later submitted 10 names before president Md Abdul Hamid to appoint CEC and election commissioners among them.

The president finally formed the present commission-headed by KM Nurul Huda. Then the CEC and other commissioners took oath on 15 February, 2017.

As per the constitution, the EC should be formed under a law, but this law has not been enacted yet in Bangladesh.

The new election commission will have to arrange the 12th national election within November 2023 to January 2024.