Election preparations progress 90 to 95 percent

According to the work plan of the Election Commission (EC), the progress of preparations for the 13th National Parliament elections is now 90 to 95 percent, said senior secretary of the EC Secretariat Akhtar Ahmed.

He said this in response to a question during a briefing in front of his office at the Agargaon Election Building in the capital on Monday.

Responding to a question about the progress of the election preparations, EC secretary Akhtar Ahmed said, “If we say it in percentage terms, we can say that we are now 90 to 95 percent ready. If the registration of political parties and observer organizations is completed this week, the preparations will reach 100 percent.”

The EC secretary also said, “The commission is slightly behind in two areas as per the work plan. Progress is a bit slow in two areas. One is the registration of political parties; the other is the registration of observer organizations. We have initially considered 22 political parties as worthy of consideration. Some additional information has been collected at the field level about them. InshaAllah, we will be able to complete it by this week.”

In response to a question, the EC secretary said, “Yes, we are slightly behind, but there is nothing to worry about. Inshallah, we will be able to cover it in the time we have.”

Regarding the observer organizations, he said, “The review of domestic observer organizations is underway. In some places, journalists have fulfilled the information restrictions. Hopefully, the registration of observer organizations will also be completed within this week.”

Regarding BNP’s objection to the RPO amendment, the EC secretary said, “Currently, the matter is with the Law Ministry, the commission will decide later.”

Regarding the issue of dialogue with political parties after the RPO amendment, the EC secretary said, “The Consensus Commission had long discussions with political parties before the RPO amendment. No conflicting issues have been seen so far.”

He said, “The Election Commission has considered the RPO proposals from five perspectives - those that are found to be transparent and acceptable, those that are slightly amendable in terms of language or numbers, those that are not possible without political consensus, those that are adequately stipulated in the existing law and those that are found to be amendable at the Commission's own discretion. Considering these five aspects, the amendment proposal has been sent to the Advisory Council and they have given their in-principle approval."

Responding to a question about the NCP symbol, the EC Secretary said, "The Commission has already stated its position. So far, no alternative proposal has come to the Commission in this regard. The Commission still stands by its previous position. What the Commission has said is that they will allocate a symbol in consultation. That is the position so far."