EC eyes stakeholder talks in late September after wrapping up party registration

Newly registered parties will also take part in this year’s dialogue

The Election Commission is set to launch a series of stakeholder dialogues in the last week of September on the road to the 13th parliamentary election.

The dialogue process will run for one to one-and-a-half months and will include political parties, university teachers, members of civil society, media representatives, observers, election experts and freedom fighters, according to the EC's election roadmap.

The commission aims to complete the registration of new political parties before starting the talks.

After an initial screening, the verification process for 22 new parties has been completed and the EC is now reviewing the reports. Once all objections are resolved, a final gazette on eligible parties is expected this month.

“We will begin the dialogues towards the end of this month as set out in the roadmap,” Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Masud said.

“It may be adjusted by a day or two, but we will proceed accordingly.”

The roadmap also schedules a law-and-order meeting for Sept 25, followed by registration of new parties and gazette publication between Sept 23-30.

Officials said the process of finalising invitations for dialogue is ongoing, and letters will be sent at least 10 days in advance. Taking into account weekends and festival holidays, the sessions are expected to continue through October.