A major obstacle to holding the upcoming parliamentary elections was the date of the referendum and national elections.
The Chief Advisor, Professor Muhammad Yunus, made this clear in his address to the nation on Thursday that the national parliamentary elections and the referendum will be held on the same day. He also said the PR process will be in the upper house of parliament.
Differences in opinion between one political party and another are not unusual, but rather normal. Each party has its own ideologies and action plans. This is a matter of opinion, but in the larger interest of parliamentary elections and the stability of the country, disagreement on national issues is never desirable.
The Election Commission (EC) was also a little bit uneasy as no decision was made on the referendum. Their preparations for the national elections are also not satisfactory. Meanwhile, the EC has started dialogue with political parties since Thursday.
According to the roadmap for the 13th National Parliament elections announced by the EC, this dialogue was scheduled to take place for one and a half months from the last week of September.
However, the dialogue was held Thursday in two phases with 12 political parties. The number of parties registered with the Election Commission is currently 53. It will take a few more days to complete the dialogue with all of the parties. This may affect the process of completing the next activities of the roadmap. Who will be invited to the dialogue again, there are also differences among the parties on this issue.
According to the EC, the Jatiya Party and the 14-party alliance, as registered parties, will receive invitations to participate in this dialogue. But several political parties are opposing the invitation to the dialogue of those parties. The People’s Rights Council has written a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner requesting him not to invite Awami League’s allies, including the Jatiya Party, as they participated in the 2024 dummy elections and pushed the country towards destruction by legitimizing the elections held under Sheikh Hasina.
Today we are going through a transitional period. Industry, business and commerce are in shambles. Investment is not happening. Factories are closing down. Unemployment is skyrocketing. In this situation, political stability is very important.
We hope, as announced by the Chief Advisor, political parties will participate in the February elections and quickly restore democratic governance in the country. At this time, we also hope that political parties should forget all their differences and focus on the elections.
