Bangladesh News

The caretaker government’s move to make the Election Commission (EC) credible has failed as its chief adviser (CA) continues to choose to ignore the majority opinion of the council of advisers and of political parties regarding reconstitution of the EC.

President Iajuddin Ahmed, who assumed the office of chief adviser on October 29 in addition to his presidential responsibilities on the basis of a majority opinion of the political parties with representation in the immediate past parliament, this time around however is paying no attention to the majority opinion regarding making the EC effective.

In the three-day long series of dialogues between political parties and the caretaker government, Awami League (AL)-led 14-party coalition, Jatiya Party (Ershad), Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)-led Jatiya Oikya Front, and Jukto Front categorically demanded reconstitution of the EC through resignation of the present chief election commissioner (CEC) while BNP-led four-party alliance vehemently opposed it.

Quite a large number of civil society groups are also proposing reconstitution of the EC and resignation of the present CEC.

The CA’s latest concocted proposal of appointing two more election commissioners instead of thoroughly reconstituting the EC, in essence meets BNP-led alliance’s demand for not to reconstitute it, rendering the council of advisers’ move to reconstitute the commission a futile exercise.

But, when a delegation of Nagorik Committee, a platform of the civil society, met the CA yesterday, he told them that the interim government is giving ‘importance to opinions of all’.

The president, who is ignoring the majority opinion this time around, however on October 29 assumed the office of the chief adviser by skipping several constitutional provisions regarding appointment to the post on the basis of the opinion of a convenient majority at that time comprising BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and Jatiya Party.

In the wake of the prevailing situation, adviser Lt Gen (retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury yesterday told a private satellite television channel, “We moved to make the Election Commission credible but the move did not succeed.”

In defence of the move to make the EC credible, Adviser Dr Akbar Ali Khan on November 7 said, “The election might not be acceptable at home and abroad if no change is made in the Election Commission. The Election Commission should be made acceptable to all for holding a free and fair election.”

“The negative perception among the people about the Election Commission must be removed by doing something,” Akbar added.

But finally, the council of advisers that started searching for ways from November 1 and held a series of meetings to make the EC effective and credible has failed to find a way out.

“It is very difficult to find a solution to the prevailing problem. It would have been easy had the chief election commissioner himself resolved it on his own,” Adviser Dr Akbar Ali Khan told reporters yesterday.

The advisory committee, which negotiated with political parties, placed a few formulas to end the political crisis and the council of advisers discussed them in details, Adviser Hasan Mashhud said adding, “Decisions were taken regarding the next course of action and the president will disclose it.”

But the president, who is also the chief adviser, did not disclose the proposals to the nation till yesterday, a day before the scheduled resumption of the Awami League-led 14-party coalition’s indefinite countrywide blockade today.

Talking to The Daily Star a number of advisers yesterday expressed their frustration over the failure of their move to make the EC credible and effective due to mainly the lack of meaningful cooperation from the president.

Wrapping up the dialogues with political parties, the advisory committee, comprising Dr Akbar Ali Khan, CM Shafi Sami, Mahbubul Alam and Yasmeen Murshed, were waiting for directions from the president.

“We have already informed the president about the outcome of the dialogue with political parties and the onus now lies on him. The directions will come from him,” Dr Akbar Ali Khan said on November 15.

After three days of hectic meetings with major political parties to find a solution to the standoff regarding whether to reconstitute the EC, the council of advisers sat with Iajuddin on Saturday morning. The chief adviser however did not give any decision on the advisers’ majority advice that the EC be reconstituted with MA Aziz being requested to step down.

The advisers, who favoured reconstitution of the EC, wanted to take a decision in the morning’s meeting by continuing the discussion, but the chief adviser adjourned it and before resuming the adjourned meeting, he held a meeting with a high level BNP delegation led by its Chairperson Khaleda Zia.

At the meeting with the BNP delegation, the president and chief adviser to the non-party caretaker government disclosed that he is ready to appoint two more election commissioners if the political parties demanding reconstitution of the EC agree to it.