Jamaat calls for general election by April, but wants local govt polls first

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami wants the country to hold its next general election by April of next year.

However, the party has also come out in favour of holding local government polls first, before the national parliamentary election.

According to party chief Ameer Shafiqur Rahman, if local government elections are held first, it will ease the suffering of the people while also demonstrating the transparency and impartiality of the Election Commission.

He expressed the stance at a “Meet the Press” event organised at a hotel in Dhaka’s Banani on Tuesday to express the party’s position on the verdict that cleared the way to Jamaat’s party registration.

Regarding reforms, Shafiqur said: "If certain things are not in place, we cannot expect a fair election. The government is moving forward with only five basic reforms. We have recommendations on 41 points, but we want to see these five implemented.

"We said that we should see justice for the perpetrators. We are seeing the start of that process and so we are a little optimistic on that front. One thing still pending in the July Charter is the declaration that comes along with the charter. The Consensus Commission is still working on that."

Along with these tasks, he demanded an update to the voter list before the election. Voter fraud must be eliminated and eligible voters must be added, he said.

The Jamaat chief also pushed for expatriates to be allowed to exercise their franchise.

Shafiqur said, "We are not willing to make concessions on this issue. Expatriates cannot exercise their civil rights. We have called on the EC to make arrangements so that expatriates can vote. This is not a difficult matter. But we are not seeing any progress from the EC."

The Jamaat chief also spoke on the election timeline, on which the NCP and BNP have taken differing stances.

He said, "The timeline given by the chief advisor [for the general election] is December to June. We have already expressed our opinion in favour of holding the election within this timeframe. It can be in mid-February, before Ramadan. If, for some reason, it cannot be held then, it would be best not to go beyond April in any case because the weather in our country continually worsens from the month of May. That will not be a suitable season for elections. That is the opinion that we have expressed.”

"But we do not have the right to set a time. If we say something specific, it becomes as if we are already at the decision-making stage. The government will decide. We can express our opinion, we can make demands. We have made them known."

Urging local government elections to be held before the national parliamentary polls, Shafiqur said: "We want the suffering of the people to end. We want the Election Commission's capacity and impartiality to be proven."

Jamaat is ready to take part in elections at any time if a level playing field is created for the national polls, the party chief said.

He said, "We mentioned a flexible time from February to April. First we said February, and later we eased that to April. On the other hand, BNP is sticking to December. Now if the elections are held in December, what will be our role? Why December? If elections are held today, I see that a level playing field has been created and now the nation is ready for fair elections. The entire organisation is ready. We will take part in those elections. We have no problem participating. It isn’t a matter of December."