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He says the Consensus Commission is striving to facilitate an inclusive process in driving state reforms
Published : 08 Apr 2025, 06:35 PM
The Election Commission will conduct the next parliamentary polls in line with the July Charter, incorporating the views of political parties and the public, according to Ali Riaz, vice-chairman of the National Consensus Commission.
Speaking at the LD Hall of the parliament complex on Tuesday, he said that, for the first time since the Liberation War, an inclusive approach had been adopted to drive state reforms.
“It was possible due to the struggle of the country’s people and the political parties,” he said.
The commission, led by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, began its work on Feb 15. It aims to hold discussions with political parties and forces to build a national consensus, and review recommendations from the other reform panels ahead of the next parliamentary elections.
After various reform commissions submitted their recommendations, the consensus panel requested 38 political parties to provide their feedback on them by Mar 13.
Nine parties have yet to respond.
“We’re hoping by continuing the process that we’ll find footing to produce a national charter. The National Consensus Commission’s tenure will run until Jul 14, we want to complete the work by then,” he said.
“One of its main goals is to formulate the July Charter to pave a roadmap for Bangladesh’s future. The election will be held as a part of this. The July Charter will play a big role in conducting a proper election.
“We’re looking for ways to ensure paths to fulfilling our goals so that we can move forward together.”
After the Eid break, the Consensus Commission resumed work by holding a dialogue with the AB Party on Monday.
On Tuesday, the commission sat with a 10-member Nagorik Oikya delegation led by the party’s Presidium Member Zillur Chowdhury around 3pm.
Zillur said, “Over the past 54 years of independence, people’s desire for liberation and democracy was only expressed in words. What the current government has moved to do to establish democracy after 54 years is a groundbreaking step.”
“We believe that through the initiative, the people of Bangladesh will be able to achieve the desired democracy, the right to law, the right to good governance, that is, 100 percent democracy."
In the first phase, the recommendations were sent to 38 political parties in a spreadsheet.
“We’ve agreed to 114 recommendations out of 166 in the spreadsheet you provided, partially agreeing with 11 others. But for the rest, we couldn’t agree with you. Hopefully, we’ll be able to explain in the discussion.”
On Monday, Riaz said the commission would soon start seeking the people’s views on national reforms through an online survey.
Nagorik Oikya is the sixth party to sit on the commission.
