Hold JS polls first following old laws, BNP-allies tell EC
Sunday, 21 September 2008
Former ruling party BNP and its coalition partners Saturday demanded withdrawal of the Representation of People Order (RPO) made by the caretaker regime and asked for holding the stalled parliamentary elections first following the old electoral laws, reports UNB.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote made the strong plea at their separate dialogues with the Election Commission (EC), which ended without agreement on these major issues.
After the talks with the three parties, the full commission led by Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda went to meet Chief Adviser of the caretaker government Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed for consultation on the sticking-points raised by the parties.
At the dialogue, the BNP and its allies made a common plea for scrapping or suspending the revised RPO 2008 and holding the upcoming general election as per the previous law under which the abortive January 22, 2007 election had been called.
"The parliamentary election has to be held first on the basis of the old electoral law," BNP secretary general Khandoker Delwar Hossain told reporters after their dialogue with the EC at the commission secretariat in the afternoon.
The EC sat in dialogue Saturday with Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, the BNP and the Islami Oikya Jote as part of the EC's third-round dialogue with the political parties before announcing specific dates for all elections.
Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda, Election Commissioners M Sohul Hussain and Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain and EC secretary M Humayun Kabir were among others present at the dialogue.
This was the first dialogue with the mainstream BNP, as the immediate-past ruling party had previously boycotted the talks with the EC and only agreed to sit after the release of party chief and ex-PM Khaleda Zia.
They demanded the general election to be held on the basis of the law and limitation of the parliamentary constituencies that were during the stalled January 22, 2007 polls, as there have been many amendments and revision brought in the present RPO. "It's not possible to amend the RPO at this moment for shortage of time," Delwar said.
He said the Commission should hold the parliamentary elections first of all, before holding any elections, to remove public confusion about the polls.
They also told the EC that the state of emergency has to be withdrawn immediately to ensure the participation of all political parties in the elections.
Replying to a question he said they discussed RPO-2008, electoral laws and rules, registration of political parties and delimitation of the parliamentary constituencies-the major matters in the politico-electoral reforms done by the interim regime against the backdrop of the past crisis.
About party registration, Delwar said it would be difficult for the political parties to register with the Commission under the RPO-2008.
"Registration is a time-consuming matter. The party registration is not possible under this unusual and absurd law," he said about the new law that disbands different front organisations of the political parties under a political-reform recipe.
Replying to a question he said upazila elections before the general election would not be right--and the commission also appraised their demand as rational. "The EC told us that they would consider all of our demands," he said in reply.
The BNP delegation also included Dr RA Gani, Chowdhury Tanvir Ahmed Siddiqui, M Shamsul Islam, MK Anwar, Brig Gen (Rtd) Hannan Shah, Sarwari Rahman, Nazrul Islam Khan, Mushfikur Rahman, Abdul Mannan and Rizvi Ahmed.
Earlier at 10:30am, Jamaat-e-Islami sat in dialogue with the EC and demanded immediate withdrawal of state of emergency and also withdrawal of the Representation of People Order (RPO)2008 to create a congenial atmosphere for the next general election.
Acting secretary general of Jamaat Mohammad Qamaruzzaman disclosed this to the newsmen after their dialogue with the Commission.
He said Jamaat demanded of the EC to withdraw the amended Representation of People Order (RPO) Ordinance 2008 or render it ineffective prior to the 9th parliamentary elections, as there are objections against some of its sections and sub-sections which are "anti-constitution".
The Jamaat leader said the government must lift the state of emergency under which "it is not possible to hold free, fair and acceptable elections".
Replying to a query, he said there is no scope for any election before the national polls. "The Election Commission has agreed with us on this issue at the dialogue."
Qamaruzzaman said holding national elections before other polls is a demand made by all of the political parties. "So, government should hold national elections before the upazila and local government elections."
He said the Jamaat also demanded of the EC not to make the registration of the political parties mandatory before the 9th parliamentary polls.
Jamaat also demanded the ditching of the re-demarcation of parliamentary seats and restoring the previous delimitation of the seats.
A ten-member IOJ delegation led by its senior Vice- chairman Maulana Mohiuddin Khan sat in dialogue with the commission and made identical demands--general election first, withdrawal of emergency and cancellation of the conditions for party registration.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote made the strong plea at their separate dialogues with the Election Commission (EC), which ended without agreement on these major issues.
After the talks with the three parties, the full commission led by Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda went to meet Chief Adviser of the caretaker government Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed for consultation on the sticking-points raised by the parties.
At the dialogue, the BNP and its allies made a common plea for scrapping or suspending the revised RPO 2008 and holding the upcoming general election as per the previous law under which the abortive January 22, 2007 election had been called.
"The parliamentary election has to be held first on the basis of the old electoral law," BNP secretary general Khandoker Delwar Hossain told reporters after their dialogue with the EC at the commission secretariat in the afternoon.
The EC sat in dialogue Saturday with Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, the BNP and the Islami Oikya Jote as part of the EC's third-round dialogue with the political parties before announcing specific dates for all elections.
Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda, Election Commissioners M Sohul Hussain and Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain and EC secretary M Humayun Kabir were among others present at the dialogue.
This was the first dialogue with the mainstream BNP, as the immediate-past ruling party had previously boycotted the talks with the EC and only agreed to sit after the release of party chief and ex-PM Khaleda Zia.
They demanded the general election to be held on the basis of the law and limitation of the parliamentary constituencies that were during the stalled January 22, 2007 polls, as there have been many amendments and revision brought in the present RPO. "It's not possible to amend the RPO at this moment for shortage of time," Delwar said.
He said the Commission should hold the parliamentary elections first of all, before holding any elections, to remove public confusion about the polls.
They also told the EC that the state of emergency has to be withdrawn immediately to ensure the participation of all political parties in the elections.
Replying to a question he said they discussed RPO-2008, electoral laws and rules, registration of political parties and delimitation of the parliamentary constituencies-the major matters in the politico-electoral reforms done by the interim regime against the backdrop of the past crisis.
About party registration, Delwar said it would be difficult for the political parties to register with the Commission under the RPO-2008.
"Registration is a time-consuming matter. The party registration is not possible under this unusual and absurd law," he said about the new law that disbands different front organisations of the political parties under a political-reform recipe.
Replying to a question he said upazila elections before the general election would not be right--and the commission also appraised their demand as rational. "The EC told us that they would consider all of our demands," he said in reply.
The BNP delegation also included Dr RA Gani, Chowdhury Tanvir Ahmed Siddiqui, M Shamsul Islam, MK Anwar, Brig Gen (Rtd) Hannan Shah, Sarwari Rahman, Nazrul Islam Khan, Mushfikur Rahman, Abdul Mannan and Rizvi Ahmed.
Earlier at 10:30am, Jamaat-e-Islami sat in dialogue with the EC and demanded immediate withdrawal of state of emergency and also withdrawal of the Representation of People Order (RPO)2008 to create a congenial atmosphere for the next general election.
Acting secretary general of Jamaat Mohammad Qamaruzzaman disclosed this to the newsmen after their dialogue with the Commission.
He said Jamaat demanded of the EC to withdraw the amended Representation of People Order (RPO) Ordinance 2008 or render it ineffective prior to the 9th parliamentary elections, as there are objections against some of its sections and sub-sections which are "anti-constitution".
The Jamaat leader said the government must lift the state of emergency under which "it is not possible to hold free, fair and acceptable elections".
Replying to a query, he said there is no scope for any election before the national polls. "The Election Commission has agreed with us on this issue at the dialogue."
Qamaruzzaman said holding national elections before other polls is a demand made by all of the political parties. "So, government should hold national elections before the upazila and local government elections."
He said the Jamaat also demanded of the EC not to make the registration of the political parties mandatory before the 9th parliamentary polls.
Jamaat also demanded the ditching of the re-demarcation of parliamentary seats and restoring the previous delimitation of the seats.
A ten-member IOJ delegation led by its senior Vice- chairman Maulana Mohiuddin Khan sat in dialogue with the commission and made identical demands--general election first, withdrawal of emergency and cancellation of the conditions for party registration.