People will reject conspiracies against national polls: Salahuddin
NN ONLINE:
BNP Standing Committee Member Salahuddin Ahmed today said the people will reject any conspiracy against the upcoming national parliamentary polls. “The people of this country will reject any political strategy to delay or obstruct the election,” he said while speaking to journalists this evening.
Mentioning that the people of Bangladesh have been fighting for the right to vote for the past 16-17 years, the senior BNP leader said, “The people of this country have fought continuously for 16-17 years, shed blood and thousands have been martyred – for what? (They fought) to achieve the demand for the right to vote, to establish democratic rights and to establish constitutional rights. Finally, (they shed blood) to establish an equitable social system and reform the state system. These can only be realized when we have a democratically elected national government through a fair and neutral election.”
Referring to political protests as self-contradictory while the consensus commission is ongoing, Salahuddin said, “The National Consensus Commission has called its next meeting for tomorrow. The public will consider how appropriate it is to announce street protests for the same demands while these discussions are ongoing.”
He also mentioned that the consensus commission did not discuss the PR (proportional representation) system for the lower house election. “There was no discussion about the PR system for the lower house election in the consensus commission. Those who are now demonstrating for the PR system for the lower house also participated in those discussions,” he said.
“If any political party raises this demand in the field, we will also express our opposing views through the democratic process. We have already said that we do not want the PR system in either the lower or upper houses of the Bangladeshi parliament. We have provided our reasoning for why we don’t want it,” he added.
He noted that the PR system is not compatible with the political culture of Bangladesh. “The PR system is not compatible with either Bangladesh’s political culture or its electoral history. Various countries around the world have different kinds of PR methods. We can see the consequences of the PR method in a neighboring country,” he said.
“Under this system, the government’s management is very weak. It’s very difficult to form a government with a simple majority. This leads to the establishment of an unstable government system and results in a permanent coalition parliament and a coalition government, which makes it impossible to fulfill the nation’s aspirations,” Salahuddin Ahmed added.