Wooing The BNP

Courier Briefing

The BNP has given a 20-point proposal to the Election Commission for the 11th parliamentary election, with the demand for an independent and facilitative polls-time government as the main prerequisite.

The party, which also leads the 20-party alliance, said they would “soon provide the outline for that polls-time government”, even though it has been carrying out a movement demanding an interim administration for a long time.

BNP has also proposed deployment of army during election, giving magisterial power to the defence services and the commission’s first-class gazetted officials, and dissolving the current parliament 90 days before the ballot in order to create a level playing field for all parties.

The Election Commission held a nearly three-hour-long dialogue at its office in Dhaka’s Agargaon with BNP Sunday morning as part of its roadmap to the next national election, likely to be held between late 2018 and early 2019.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda, four other commissioners and other high officials were present at the meeting while the 16-member BNP delegation was led by Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir=. Briefing the media afterwards, Mirza Fakhrul said: “Our proposals include demands for a supportive government, army deployment, withdrawal of false cases against BNP leaders including Chairperson Khaleda Zia, release of arrested leaders, and bringing an end to killings and forced disappearances.”

Their proposal alleged that the ruling party, Awami League, was the only party at the moment that is campaigning for the election using its power. He said they urged the commission to take steps to ensure the rights of all the political parties to hold meetings and rallies along with other political activities.