Last update on: Mon Aug 11, 2025 08:02 AM
Jamaat-e-Islami has demanded the proportional representation (PR) system for the upper and the lower houses of parliament and warned of launching a movement to press home the demand.
“We’ve already agreed on the [introduction of] PR system in the upper house. But our demand is for both houses, and we will wage a movement to realise it,” Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher told reporters after a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin yesterday.
“The reason is that in the past 54 years under the traditional election system, a truly fair election has never been ensured. Considering this long history of failure, we would like to try a new method.”
He said Jamaat has always been in favour of elections and has no objection to holding the polls in the first week of February next year. Instead, the party welcomed the election date.
“First of all, we have already said we will contest the election. Secondly, before going to the polls, we have certain demands and conditions, and we are pursuing them. We will continue to pursue them, and we hope we will achieve our goal.”
The Jamaat leader said the government is committed to reforms, justice, and the election. “Therefore, before the polls, two more things must be done: making justice visible and implementation of reforms.”
He added that they have no objections either to the EC’s role so far, but this is just the first round. “We will see how they [the EC] handle the second round, semi-final, and the final.”
Taher said the most important aspect of an election is that it must be credible, free, fair, and participatory. “This is the demand of democracy, and the demand of the people of this country.”
The people could not vote in three consecutive polls, and a situation was created where a single party conducted the elections and won all. The people still has doubt whether the polls will be fair, he said.
“That is why we have said the government must take many initiatives so that people gain confidence that this time the election will be fair,” said the Jamaat leader.
Proportional representation is an electoral system in which the distribution of seats corresponds with the proportion of the total votes cast for each party.