Parliamentary election and referendum to be held on the same day: Chief adviser

Chief adviser professor Muhammad Yunus has announced how the implementation process of the July National Charter, also known as the reform proposals, will proceed.

He stated that the national parliamentary election and the referendum will be held on the same day.

Professor Muhammad Yunus made the announcement in a televised address to the nation at 2:30 pm on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the advisory council of the interim government held a meeting at the Chief Adviser’s Office in Tejgaon, Dhaka, with professor Yunus presiding.

Following the meeting, the chief adviser delivered his address, which was broadcast live on Bangladesh Television (BTV), BTV News, and BTV World.

On 28 October, the National Consensus Commission submitted two alternative recommendations to the interim government outlining possible methods to implement the July National Charter.

According to one proposal, the government would issue a special order to implement the Charter’s constitutional reform provisions, followed by a referendum. If the referendum approves the proposed reforms, the next parliament would act as a Constitution Reform Council and amend the Constitution within 270 days. If parliament fails to do so within the deadline, the proposed reforms would automatically be incorporated into the Constitution.

The second recommendation is largely similar, except it only states that the reforms should be completed within 270 days, without specifying what would happen if the deadline is missed.

The Commission left the timing of the referendum to be decided by the government. Political parties had already shown divergent views over the process of implementing the July National Charter or reform proposals, but these differences resurfaced more sharply after the Commission’s recommendations were submitted.

As disagreements persisted, the interim government urged political parties to hold discussions among themselves and provide a unified direction to the government as soon as possible. However, the parties failed to reach any consensus or even sit for talks. The government has now decided to move forward on its own.