EC Reconstitution: President to hold dialogue with all

A view-exchange meeting with all stakeholders will be held before reconstituting the Election Commission (EC), says ruling Awami League presidium member Dr Abdur Razzak during a roundtable at Cirdap auditorium in Dhaka on November 14, 2016.

Ruling Awami League presidium member Abdur Razzak hopes that President Abdul Hamid will hold dialogue with all stakeholders, including civil societies, to seek their opinion about the reconstitution of the Election Commission. “We urge all to have faith in him [president]. I firmly believe he will take steps in the light of the constitution so that everybody has confidence in the next Election Commission,” Razzak said at a roundtable at the capital’s Cirdap auditorium yesterday. Contacted, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told The Daily Star that party chief Khaleda Zia would come up with a specific proposal for the reconstitution said the party might come up with an idea of forming a search committee for appointing the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the other commissioners. The committee would have one representative from each of the AL, the BNP and the opposition parties, and a justice, a bureaucrat and civil society members.

The party might also propose to pick the commissioners either from the civil society members or the former vice chancellors of different public universities, added the leader.

During yesterday’s roundtable, some civil society members and politicians demanded that a law be formulated to reconstitute the EC in a transparent and credible way.

They also emphasised on changing the current “political culture” for a free and fair polls.

In response, AL leader Razzak said the demand could be considered.

M Hafiz Uddin Khan, president of Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan), said it was not possible to hold a free and fair election without the political will of the government.

Political parties are the major stakeholder of an election. So, a fair election is not possible without their cooperation, said M Sakhawat Hussain, a former election commissioner.

Shujan Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar said the demanded law should have a detailed guideline on formation of the search committee and appointment of the CEC and other commissioners.

Noted jurist Dr Shahdeen Malik said the formation of the EC without the law could be challenged with the court afterwards.

Bangladesh Mahila Parishad General Secretary Maleka Banu demanded that women represent at least one-third of total officials at the EC.

Yesterday’s roundtable on “Appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners in Bangladesh” was organised by the Election Working Group (EWG), a platform of 28 civil society organisations.

Presenting a paper at the programme, EWG Director Abdul Alim proposed to form a 7-member search committee headed by a justice of the Appellate Division to appoint the CEC and other commissioners.

The search committee will sit with all the registered political parties and prepare a draft list of three persons for the post of CEC and 15 people for that of other commissioners. Later, it will place the list before the president, who will finally nominate the CEC and other commissioners.

Over a dozen representatives from different organisations and politicians, among others, also spoke at the roundtable.

The tenure of the existing EC expires in February. The country’s politics could heat up again over the process of forming a new EC, which would oversee the 2019 general election.

Source: The Daily Star