The biennial election of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) will be held by April next year, according to a panel leader.

Of the two contesting panels, Sammilito Parishad has already announced its candidate for president.

It will be Faruque Hassan, a former BGMEA vice president and managing director of Giant Group, said Siddiqur Rahman, who too is a former president and a parishad leader. The other panel, Forum, is yet to make the name of their president candidate public.

Talking to The Daily Star about it, Anwar Ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, another former president, said they would hold a meeting with the panel leaders and supporters soon to nominate a candidate.

However, another Forum leader, seeking anonymity, said his peers want the current president, Rubana Huq, to again run for the post from the panel. Parvez also hinted that whether the next election would be held was largely dependent on the former presidents reaching a consensus.

All former presidents would sit in a meeting soon to decide about it. If they can reach a consensus on a person to hold the post, then an election might not be needed.

The next president might be chosen in such a consensus, Parvez also said. He did not say exactly state when the former presidents would sit for the meeting.

But Siddiqur Rahman, also secretary to the ruling Awami League for business and commerce, said they want to hold an election, not choose a president on the basis of consensus.

"We have already announced our candidate…to be elected by holding an election," said Siddiqur Rahman.

Whoever is elected president, he or she will have to face a lot of challenges because of the Covid-19 fallout which has severely damaged the country's garment sector, the leaders said.

For instance, the next president will have to work intensely for the reinstatement of cancelled work orders, employment generation for workers, negotiate with buyers for fresh work orders and bring normalcy back to the sector.

International retailers and brands have so far cancelled work orders worth $3.18 billion although a significant amount of those orders have already been reissued either through bargains over the prices or at large discounts.

This time, the buyers demanded abnormal price discounts or periods for deferring payments because of the fallouts of Covid-19.

Many buyers even demanded that payments be deferred by more than 200 days compared with the 90 days agreed in letters of credit.

Solving the challenges in the sector is the first priority of the BGMEA president, said Siddiqur Rahman, adding that those challenges were nothing new.

The upcoming president will continue doing so, he said.