Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Zabed Ali on Tuesday said the Election Commission has started communicating with the main opposition BNP in a bid to woo it to join the next parliamentary elections.
“Yes, we’re communicating with the party personally and we’ll continue it,” he told reporters at the EC secretariat on Tuesday replying to a query whether the commission contacting BNP personally to persuade to join the polls.
Zabed Ali said the EC is in touch with all political parties. “Why don’t we communicate (with BNP)? No one of us is on the right or the left. We’re communicating with all so that all join the elections.”
Asked about BNP’s response, the commissioner said, “We always think that the response will be positive. We’ll be there as hopeful even at the last moment that there’ll be an election with the participation of all registered political parties.”
Zabed Ali said they are also hopeful about BNP’s participation in the next general election. “We want to hold a fair, free and participatory election in line with our constitutional duty, which will be acceptable both at home and abroad.”
About the proposed election code of conduct for political parties and candidates, the commissioner hoped that the final code will be acceptable to all political parties.
The commission received suggestions over the code even from expatriates. However, no prominent stakeholder (political party) has so far placed suggestions over the proposed code, he added.
The code of conduct will be finalised within a day or two, Zabed Ali added.
On November 7, a copy of the proposed code was put on the EC’s website – www.ecs.gov.bd – seeking suggestions and opinions over it within November 14.
Source: UNB Connect