Decision on proportional representation will rest with next parliament, says Fakhrul

People will decide if it moves to PR, but now, they know nothing about it, he says

The decision on whether the national election will be held under the proportional representation (PR) system will be made by the next elected parliament, BNP senior leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said.

On Monday, he said if the representatives in the next parliament believe it should move from the current voting system to PR, it will.

“If the people think it should move to PR, it will. But right now, the public knows nothing about it.”

The secretary general of the party also expressed the BNP’s concerns over demands by the Jamaat-e-Islami and some like-minded parties for parliamentary elections under PR.

“The problem with PR is that individual voters lose the freedom to choose their representatives. Instead, the party chooses who to nominate for parliament. We disagree with that… I raised these points because they are coming before us now.”