Bangladesh goes to 13th parliamentary election early February next year. Dispelling prolonged doubts and confusions, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus confirmed it while addressing the nation on Tuesday night on the occasion of the first anniversary of the July Uprising that toppled the fascist regime on August 5, 2024.
The election will take place before Ramadan that is likely to begin on February 17 or 18, subject to the sighting of the moon.
In the run up to the election, Dr Yunus stressed sweeping reforms, economic recovery and a roadmap. But it is not clear how far he could go with the reform agenda aimed at redeeming our political system. This is because the National Consensus Commission established to initiate reforms has been facing major hurdles in forging agreement among key political parties on many issues including the appointment of a caretaker government during elections, the creation of an upper house, the electoral process for 100 reserved seats for women and balancing residential powers.
In this context, Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami submitted nearly identical proposals on selecting the Chief Advisor for the caretaker government. However, conflicting positions from other parties, mainly from National Citizen Party stalled a final decision until now.
Political parties have also remained divided over whether one leader should hold multiple top posts. BNP supports allowing one person to serve simultaneously as Prime Minister, Leader of the House and party chief while NCP and several others are sticking to limit political leaders to a single top post. Jamaat supports combining the posts of Prime Minister and Leader of the House but opposes one person holding all the three posts.
The second phase of the consensus dialogue began recently in which disagreements deepened ostensibly. BNP was seen at odds with Jamaat, Islami Andolan and NCP on multiple reform issues.
The most contentious factor is whether an agreement on varied reforms should be reached before the elections. In this case, Jamaat, NCP and Islami Andolan want reforms consensus be completed before polls while BNP is giving nonchalant shrug to the issue saying prosaically that the reforms should be carried out by an elected government.
Moreover, BNP has been opposed to the introduction of a proportional representation (PR) voting system for elections to the proposed upper house in a bicameral parliament, pledging to resist any attempt to do so. However, this PR system has been proposed and supported by Jamaat, NCP, Islami Andolan and several other parties.
As a result, rifts between rival political parties are widening in our political landscape, raising doubts whether a consensus could be secured ahead of the elections. If not, holding elections under the same flawed system that allowed authoritarianism to take root would betray the sacrifice of those who died in 2024.
This is why, finalizing the 'Charter of Consensus' on reforms is a must with creating a level playing field for all political parties for a free, fair and inclusive election. Otherwise, all our sacrifice and efforts for a new and democratic Bangladesh will count for nothing.
