After its discussions with academicians, civil society personalities and print media journalists, the Election Commission has now sat down for talks with editors and senior journalists from electronic media on holding a fair and free national election, bdnews24.com reports.
The dialogue led by Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal started on Monday at the Election Commission's headquarters in Dhaka's Agargaon.
At least 26 of the 39 invitees attended the discussion.
The guests included Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) Chief Editor and Managing Director Abul Kalam Azad, bdnews24.com's Editor-in-Chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi and Jagonews24.com’s acting Editor KM Zeaul Haque, Bangla Tribune’s Head of News Masood Kamal.
DBC News’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Monjurul Islam, Ekattor Television’s Editor-in-Chief Mozammel Babu, GTV’s Editor-in-Chief Syed Ishtiaque Reza, RTV’s CEO Syed Ashik Rahman and Jamuna TV’s CEO Fahim Ahmed also joined the discussion.
In his welcome statement, CEC Awal said, “You are eminent personalities and we need your suggestions and advice on holding a free, fair, acceptable and participatory election."
"We want a participatory election to overcome any lack of public trust that may exist. We’ll design our next strategy based on your suggestions.”
The four election commissioners, Md Alamgir, Anisur Rahman, Rashida Sultana Emily and Ahsan Habib Khan, were also present.
From the outset, the new CEC has been calling for political compromise to ensure a participatory election.
Two weeks after taking office, the new EC conferred with academics on Mar 13 in the first round of talks ahead of the 12th parliamentary election. They called on the commission to work towards gaining the trust of all stakeholders and come to an acceptable decision on the use of electronic voting machines.
For the next round of talks, 39 civil society members were invited and 19 of them turned up. In the third phase, 23 of the 34 print media journalists invited by the EC took part in the dialogue.
A former secretary, Awal expressed confidence in his colleagues and said he will take decisions based on consensus.
He said the commission will lay out a strategy for the election after conferring with stakeholders and identifying the challenges involved.
“The Election Commission does not hold the polls alone. Elections are a huge task. Many are involved in it. Everyone must cooperate and the commission will work to make sure they do,” he said.
Awal hoped that the 12th parliamentary election will be a participatory one and said the EC will take practical steps after reviewing the suggestions received during the dialogues.
The 12th parliamentary election is due at the end of 2023.