EC restarts talks with parties Feb 24
The Election Commission (EC) kicks off the second round electoral reforms talks with political parties on February 24.
The commission yesterday said it will separately sit with three parties each day to complete the talks in five days. These parties had attended the first round of the talks during September-November last year.
However, the EC has excluded the BNP from its talks schedule as it could not yet hold the first round talks with the party because of disputes over the party leadership.
The second round talks will clear the passage for the caretaker government to initiate steps next month to hold a national dialogue with the political parties to ensure holding of a credible parliamentary election.
The EC Secretariat will send the invitations to 15 political parties next Saturday and Sunday along with the summary reports of the first round of talks.
On the BNP issue, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday said, "We have waited four months for the internal disputes of the BNP to be resolved. We have also requested the party leaders to resolve the disputes."
The EC is ready to sit with the BNP at any time after the court resolves the issue, Huda told reporters at the EC Secretariat.
In November last year, the EC invited the BNP led by M Saifur Rahman to the electoral reforms talks on November 22. But the BNP faction led by Chairperson Khaleda Zia challenged the EC decision in the High Court (HC). The matter is still pending with the court.
"We cannot wait anymore for the BNP to resolve its disputes," the CEC said, adding that they hope the disputes would be resolved soon.
TALKS SCHEDULES
The EC will sit with Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, Liberal Democratic Party and Samyabadi Dal on February 24 at 10:00am, 12:00 noon and 2:30pm.
The talks with Workers Party of Bangladesh, Communist Party of Bangladesh and the Awami League are scheduled for February 25.
On February 26, the EC will sit with the Jatiya Party (JP) led by HM Ershad, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD-Inu) and National Awami Party.
Talks with Jamaat-e-Islami, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD-Rab) and JP led by Anwar Hossain Manju are scheduled for February 27 while Gonotantri Party, Krishak Sramik Janata League and Islami Oikya Jote are scheduled for February 28.
The EC Secretariat will send invitations to the secretary-generals of the parties, urging them to send a five-member delegation each to the talks at the EC Secretariat conference room.
"Discussions will take place to incorporate proposals of the parties in the draft of the electoral reforms. We will hear the opinion of the parties. But we will take the final decision," CEC Huda said.
During the first round of the talks, the EC had announced that it would hold the second round talks with all the parties together. But it cancelled its plan when most parties refused to sit with Jamaat, terming it an anti-liberation force.
Once the second round talks are completed, the caretaker government will initiate steps to hold dialogues with the parties. Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed in an address to the nation on January 12 announced that his government would soon initiate steps to hold talks with the parties.
But a number of advisers later said the talks between the government and the political parties will begin after the EC talks are over.
Since its reconstitution on February 4 last year, the EC has initiated massive tasks for electoral law reforms. On April 5, it announced a set of proposals for electoral reforms. Earlier at a meeting with the then law adviser on April 4, the CEC asked the government to lift the restriction on indoor politics so that the EC could hold talks with the parties to discuss the draft proposals.
On September 10, the government lifted the restrictions on indoor politics only in the capital and the EC started its talks with the parties from September 12.
As per the electoral roadmap announced on July 15, the talks were supposed to be completed in November, but the BNP issue stalled the process.
Once the proposals are finalised after holding talks with the parties, the EC will send those to the caretaker government to make laws for conducting the stalled ninth parliamentary election.
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