President to meet stakeholders before EC reconstitution

President Abdul Hamid will hold a view-exchange meeting with all stakeholders including civil societies and take their opinion before reconstituting the Election Commission (EC), said ruling Awami League presidium member Dr Abdur Razzak.

"We urge all to keep faith on him (president). I firmly believe that he (president) will take step in the light of constitution so that everybody will have confidence on the next Election Commission," the AL leader said.

"We want the next parliamentary election be free, fair and acceptable to all," Razzak said while speaking as the guest of honour at a roundtable at Cirdap auditorium in Dhaka today.

Election Working Group (EWG), a platform of 28 civil society organizations, organised the roundtable titled 'Appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners in Bangladesh'.

BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Jatiya Party (JP) presidium member Ziauddin Ahmed, eminent jurist Dr Shahdeen Malik, noted local government expert Dr Tofail Ahmed, former election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain and Shushasoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan) president M Hafiz Uddin Khan, among others, also spoke at the function.

The tenure of the existing Election Commission (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.

The ruling Awami League-led alliance wants the new EC to be formed by a search committee under the jurisdiction of the president, a power vested in him by the constitution.

On the other hand, the BNP-led 20-party alliance and other political parties not aligned to the AL-led 14-party alliance want dialogue with all stakeholders before formation of such a committee. They have warned the government against any move to have a "subservient election commission".