CEC reaffirms position not to resign anyway

Trackback URL

Download PDF

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) MA Aziz yesterday cleared his position and reiterated that he will not resign anyway.

The CEC however denied that the council of advisers or any advisers requested or called him to resign. He firmly declared that the upcoming general elections would be held under his authority.

The CEC expressed his firm decision to newspersons after a meeting with US Ambassador Patricia A Butenis.

The US ambassador yesterday called on the CEC at his office and wanted to be updated on how everything was going regarding the 14-party’s demand for reconstituting the EC.

Asked about her discussion with the CEC, Butenis ignored the journalists and termed their behaviour and attitude “unacceptable”.

“The way you behave is not acceptable,” Butenis castigated the waiting reporters. “If you don’t ask in a civilised way this is the last I talked anybody in a Bangladeshi media,” she angrily said.

“The discussion was held about the election preparations and the foreign observers,” Aziz told the reporters.

“She wanted to know about our election preparations and whether the election will be held in due time.”

He termed the 14-party’s demand for EC reconstitution a political matter and said they did not discuss it.

He however admitted that the US ambassador discussed the 14-party demand with him when the journalists informed him Butenis had told them about it.

“I didn’t express my opinions about it to the US ambassador,” said the CEC. “Who am I to give opinion about this?

“I am not under any pressure for the demand of the 14-party alliance,” he added.

On the advisers’ requesting him to step down, Aziz said no advisers had ever made any such request to him.

“How do you know that they [advisory council] made any requests to me for my resignation? If they did, I should know first.

“Newspapers may write any things, I didn’t write that in papers,” he said when his attention was drawn to the advisers’ request for his resignation published in the newspapers.

“There were no discussions with the advisers about my resignation. Didn’t you hear what the president said? He said there was no discussion regarding my resignation.

“What Akbar Ali [an adviser to the caretaker government] said about me was his personal opinion. Everyone has their own opinion as you and I also have.”

The CEC denied his previous statement where he said he would consider resignation if the advisers requested him.

“I think there would be no disputes regarding the elections and it would be held in a festive mood under my authority.”

Leave a Reply