BANGLADESH’s Election Commission (EC) on Thursday released a roadmap for the general election, expected to be held in February next year.
The poll schedule will be announced at least 60 days before the voting date, officials said.
“The Chief Adviser’s Office has asked us to hold the election before Ramadan. If I am not mistaken, Ramadan will begin on February 17 or 18. From this, you can calculate the probable election date,” EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed told reporters at a press briefing.
He said the commission was targeting the first half of February for the election. The roadmap, prepared in line with the directives of interim government chief adviser Muhammad Yunus, received EC approval on Wednesday.
According to Ahmed, discussions with political parties and other stakeholders will be held by the end of September and could take “one to one and a half months” to complete.
The EC identified 24 key tasks in the roadmap, including amendments to laws such as the Representation of the People Order (RPO), the Delimitation of Constituencies Act, the Voter List Act, the Election Officers (Special Provisions) Act 1991, and the Election Commission Secretariat Act 2009. Other tasks include finalising the voter list in phases, setting policies for domestic and foreign observers and journalists, and registering new political parties.
The commission expects to announce the election schedule in the second or third week of December.
In a televised address on August 5, Yunus had said the 13th parliamentary election would be held in February before Ramadan.
The roadmap announcement came as the National Citizen Party (NCP), formed this year with apparent support from Yunus, raised objections to the planned polls.
Shortly after the EC’s briefing, the NCP said the roadmap reflected a “breach of promise” by the interim government.
“Announcing the roadmap before declaring the implementation of the ‘July Charter’ is tantamount to breaking promises,” former Students against Discrimination (SAD) leader and NCP Joint Convener Ariful Islam Adeeb told a press conference. Flanked by other leaders, Adeeb warned that this could create “future crises for which the government must bear responsibility.”
The NCP, which emerged in February as an offshoot of SAD after leading the movement that forced Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League out of power on August 5 last year, has been demanding a new constitution through a Constituent Assembly, replacing the 1972 Constitution.
Jamaat-e-Islami has separately demanded that the polls be held under a proportional representation system to secure a larger stake in parliament. Both Jamaat and NCP have also called for the trial of Hasina and leaders of her regime for their alleged role in last year’s crackdown on the uprising.
Hasina is being tried in absentia at the International Crimes Tribunal on several charges.
Former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has emerged as the largest party in the absence of Awami League, whose activities were disbanded by Yunus’s interim government.
Despite assurances by Yunus and his advisers of free and fair polls within the announced deadline, uncertainty has grown among political parties due to the stance of the NCP.
(With inputs from agencies)
