Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal on Sunday said that the Election Commission will prepare a roadmap for the forthcoming 12th National Election through a series of dialogues with stakeholders.
The CEC also said that they initiated the dialogue process so that the next general election could be held with the participation of more political parties and voters.
"The Election Commission plans to hold dialogues with the country’s prominent citizens, media representatives, academicians and political parties," he told the media before at his introductory speech at the first dialogue of the commission with academicians at the election commission building in Agargaon Sunday afternoon.
Kazi Habibul Awal, however, said that some of the elections held in the past were not well participatory.
"Allegations were made in this regard. So, we are taking everyone's opinion to make the next election more participatory and acceptable," he added.
The CEC said, "We want that the next elections will be more participatory as the real opinion of the people is reflected through the ballots.”
He told the academicians, “We want your advices on what we can do on behalf of the commission. I believe I can draw knowledge from your opinion.”
On 26 February, President Abdul Hamid appointed EC headed by Kazi Habibul Awal. The commission took the oath on 27 February and took office for the first time on 28 February.
After taking oath, the EC decided to hold talks with the country’s prominent citizens, media representatives, academicians and political parties.
Officials of the Election Commission said that a roadmap for the upcoming 12th National Parliament elections will be prepared from such a series of meetings. The constitutional body will then hold dialogues with prominent citizens, media representatives and political parties.
The officials also said that the EC is going to hold its next dialogue with the country’s prominent citizens on March 30.
It should be mentioned that the EC had invited a total of 30 academicians to take part on the first day of a series of dialogues. But only 13 of them responded to the invitations and took part in the dialogue.
Those who took part in the dialogue include Dhaka University professors Sadeka Halim, Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, Mohammad Yiahiya Akhter, Abdul Mannan Chowdhury, Mofizul Islam, Anwar Hossain, Dr. Akhtar Hossain, Al Masud Hasanuzzaman, Zafar Iqbal, Borhan Uddin Khan and Lailafur Yasmin.
According to sources, during the dialogue, the academicians, who took part in the dialogue, placed their own views and opinions individually. Most of them put emphasises on the participation of all the political parties and holding a free and fair elections, which would be acceptable to all.
