Moving into the election mode, the Election Commission is set to begin a series of dialogues with registered political parties this week to lay the groundwork for the upcoming national election scheduled for February, reports UNB.
However, due to time constraints before the election schedule is announced in early December, political parties will be invited in groups to join the discussions, according to Election Commission officials.
They said the dialogues, regarded as the Commission's last major task before the election schedule, will take around two weeks to complete ahead of the 13th parliamentary election.
"The dialogues with political parties will begin next week. The Commission will have to invite them in groups due to time constraints (before the announcement of election schedule)," said EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed on Thursday.
Replying to a question, he told the news agency that it would not be possible to complete the dialogues within a week rather the process would take two weeks.
As part of preparations for the dialogues with political parties, the Commission has already made changes to the electoral code of conduct in line with an ordinance promulgated on November 3, bringing further amendment to the Representation of the People Order, 1972.
The Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Candidates in Parliamentary Elections Rules 2025 will soon be published in the official gazette, with the code expected to be one of the key discussion issues during the dialogues.
"We have sent the code of conduct (to publish it in the official gazette). So, the dialogue will be opened next week," said the EC Secretary.
The Election Commission traditionally holds talks with registered political parties before each national election. Each party was usually invited to join the dialogue separately.
However, this time it is still uncertain whether the Jatiya Party and some other registered parties, known as the allies of Sheikh Hasina's regime toppled through the 2014 mass uprising, will be invited to the talks.
Currently, there are 53 registered political parties, excluding the Awami League, whose registration remains suspended.
Besides, the EC on Tuesday last published notifications seeking objections, if any, against the registration to three new political parties -National Citizen Party (NCP), Bangladesh Aam Janagan Party and Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (Marxist). The Commission will finally recognise them as the registered parties after November 12.
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