Elected uncontested, 78 FBCCI directors named

The election board of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) yesterday declared the names of 78 directors who were elected uncontested.   

The 78 directors will represent the country's business community for the next two-year term.

This is yet another showcase of the absence of participatory elections at the country's apex trade body.

The leaders of the FBCCI have been chosen either through partial election or were selected on the basis of consensus among the potential candidates, said a former presidential hopeful and several former directors earlier.

Fake voters and political pressure exerted by the voters backed by ruling parties mainly dominated the election over the last few years, they said, all on condition of anonymity.

This has been going on for the last six years, depriving the voters of the opportunity to choose their leaders through participatory elections. 

"As per our election scheduled, we have declared the names of the 78 directors formally," said Shamsul Alam, a member of the election board.

Now, the directors will elect the president and vice-presidents for the 2021-23 tenure.

Md Jasim Uddin, chairman of newly launched private lender Bengal Commercial Bank, is scheduled to be elected president as none is contesting him.

The FBCCI election for the 2021-23 tenure was scheduled to be held yesterday. However, the election was cancelled as four directors, two each from chamber and association groups, withdrew their candidature last week. After the withdrawal of the nomination papers by the four hopefuls, the posts of 23 directors from each of the chamber and association groups were filled up automatically. As a result, the election did not take place.

The directors are scheduled to elect the president and the vice-presidents on May 7.

This time, the president will be named from the association group and senior vice-president from the chamber group.

Six more vice-presidents will come from the association and chamber groups.

The total number of posts of directors at the FBCCI is 80. Of it, 46 are elected – 23 from the chamber group and 23 from the association group.

Another 34 directors are nominated -- 17 from the chamber group and 17 from the association group.

However, this time the total number of directors is 78 because the Gopalganj Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies did not nominate directors.