Bangladesh poised to have bicameral parliament 100-seat upper house as the National Consensus Commission (NCC) decided Thursday by exercise of discretionary authority amid political disagreements on its formation.
The commission also decides that the members of the upper house will be nominated through the proportional representation (PR) system based on the percentage of votes each party received in the lower house.
The commission decision came as the political parties disagreed on the formation and presentation in the upper house.
The BNP and its likeminded parties and alliance opposed the PR system in the upper house. Likeminded parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizens Party (NCP), say ayes to the NCC proposal. The 23rd-day meet in the second phase of the commission's discussions with political parties was underway into the night at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital when the last report came.
Vice President of the NCC Prof Ali Riaz told the politicians, "We will try to quickly prepare the final charter and hand it over to you. A signing ceremony will also be planned based on this."
According to the commission's proposal, the upper house will not have the power to make any law of its own. However, all bills other than the finance bill must be presented in both the lower and upper chambers of parliament.
The upper house cannot permanently hold any bill. If a bill is held for more than a month, it will be considered approved by the upper house.
In another development, the commission proposed to vest directly in the president the power of appoint of the three service chiefs and two intelligence chiefs.
Leaders of 30 political parties, including BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, NCP, Islami Andolan, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), and Mass Solidarity Movement, participated in the discussion.
Meanwhile, political parties have taken an opposite stance in giving the national charter a legal look.
BNP standing-committee member Salahuddin Ahmed said the July National Charter will be considered a historic and binding social contract between the people of the country and political parties.
This is a "contract that no political party will dare to break", he said, adding: "I firmly believe that the only appropriate place to implement this charter is the National Parliament."
He also said according to one of the clauses of the charter, the promise must be implemented within two years of the formation of the parliament, which BNP fully supports.
On the contrary, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizens Party (NCP) stressed the need for a legal framework to ensure immediate implementation of the charter.
Jamaat on Thursday warned of filing a compensation case against the interim government and the National Consensus Commission if the July charter is not given a legal basis.
Jamaat leader Dr Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher told reporters, opposing BNP's position on chatter, "We think that just making promises will not work. If the charter does not have a legal basis, it will become worthless. Therefore, we will file a compensation case against the commission and the government.
"The time, effort and expense that we have spent by participating in this dialogue will have no value if it is not implemented. If we just sign and stop, it will be a kind of farce. We will not allow such a joke with the nation again," he continues.
Jamaat also wants PR system in lower house and upper house both.
Prof Riaz said they discussed 19 issues and reached consensus on the proposals with note of descent from some political parties on the issues.
The commission said it would soon share the details with parties and media of the issues agreed and disagreed and the final draft of the national charter. And, the commission will discuss with the political parties on how to sign and implement the charter, he added.
"We have succeeded in reaching consensus and ending the discussion by July 31, and we made it. We will send the draft national charter to the political parties shortly. Political parties reached consensus on having note of decent score on some issues," he added.
Left parties on Thursday walked out the discussion on the reform on the fundamental principle of the state in the constitution, he added.
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