Bangladesh News

Politics once again seems to be on a rough chart as the chief election commissioner (CEC) met with Chief Adviser President Iajuddin Ahmed last night to discuss election schedule, dwarfing caretaker government advisers’ talks with major political parties on Election Commission (EC) reconstitution.

CEC MA Aziz, who met Iajuddin with his team of commissioners within hours of BNP and Jamaat’s demanding for immediate announcement of polls schedule, told reporters that nothing but election preparation was on the agenda in his talks with the president.

The chief adviser asked the CEC and three other election commissioners to announce the poll schedule as soon as possible, meeting sources said.

Aziz earlier told the press that the election schedule will be announced by November 25.

Early yesterday afternoon, an angry 14-party team met Iajuddin and told him to reconstitute the EC before announcing the election schedule. Otherwise, a tougher movement including countrywide blockade will commence from Monday, the Awami League-led 14-party leaders said.

The Liberal Democratic Party and Jatiya Party had also demanded reconstitution of the EC in their separate meetings with the advisory council.

Although the time fuse gets shorter, the president and chief adviser finds no time to sit with his advisers before Monday to discuss whether his cabinet could pull up any solution to the EC debate.

Observing the situation, many said both the president and the caretaker government advisory council are apparently moving slowly to break the ongoing political stalemate centring the EC reconstitution and this is triggering apprehension of further deepening of the crisis.

The council of advisers, who could not take any decision over reconstitution of the EC in the last 17 days, has been waiting for directives from the president and chief adviser on the basis of the outcomes of a dialogue between the advisers and major political parties.

Meanwhile, wrapping up the three-day long dialogue on Wednesday, the advisory committee yesterday repeatedly communicated with the Bangabhaban to sit in a meeting, but the advisers ultimately became frustrated as the president neither gave any direction nor convened the council’s meeting.

There is little possibility that the meeting will be held before Monday–the day the Awami League-led 14-party alliance resumes its countrywide blockade.

Awami League (AL) General Secretary and 14-party alliance Coordinator Abdul Jalil yesterday met the president and asked him again to reconstitute the EC immediately.

A delegation of Jamaat-e-Islami, a key ally of BNP, met the president around 3:15pm and demanded his intervention for immediate announcement of the election schedule by the EC.

Meanwhile at a programme, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia also asked the CEC to announce the election schedule without any delay.

In the wake of the prevailing situation, the AL-led alliance, which suspended the blockade programme up to Sunday, announced yesterday to enforce countrywide blockade and street agitations from Monday if the demand for EC reconstitution is not met.

CARETAKER GOVT GOES SLOW
The advisers to the caretaker government were expecting to sit in a meeting yesterday as they were not sure if any meeting will be held on Friday and Saturday.

“We are now waiting for the president’s directions to move forward,” Adviser CM Shafi Sami, a member of the advisory committee that held the dialogue with the political parties, told reporters yesterday at his office.

Asked if they are preparing any report based on the talks, he said, “Everything is ready and now we are waiting for the president’s directions.”

He said, “If we can take a collective decision, it will be possible to create an environment for holding a fair election through participation of all political parties.”

The advisory committee comprising advisers Dr Akbar Ali Khan, CM Shafi Sami, Mahbubul Alam and Yasmeen Murhsed opened the dialogue on Monday night and met the president twice on Tuesday and Wednesday to inform him of the outcomes.

However, the other advisers who were not in the advisory committee have not yet been informed formally of the outcomes of the talks.

“I thought the president will convene a meeting today and we will discuss the matter to find ways to resolve the deadlock,” an adviser told The Daily Star yesterday, wishing anonymity.

The council of advisers started searching ways to make the EC credible from its first meeting on November 1 and continued discussions at several meetings on November 2, 4, 8, 12 and 13.

On November 13, the council of advisers formed the four-member committee, which held the dialogue with seven political parties.

All political parties, except the BNP-led four-party alliance, strongly recommended reconstitution of the EC through removal of the CEC.

CEC Aziz, however, outright rejected the possibility of resignation and announced that the next parliamentary election will be held under the present EC led by him.