BNP skips dialogue but CEC says will wait for it to join

The BNP on Wednesday stayed away from the Election Commission's dialogue, calling it ineffective, but the chief election commissioner (CEC) said they would wait for the opposition party to join.

"This commission has no power to hold a free, fair, and credible election. It is not possible without a neutral caretaker government. So, such kind of dialogue has no value," BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told The Business Standard yesterday.

"We have already informed the Election Commission that we will not join the dialogue," he added.

The commission had fixed Wednesday 3pm for the dialogue with the BNP and invited the party accordingly.

Still, CEC Kazi Habibul Awal wants to wait for the opposition party to join the dialogue.

"We will wait for the BNP," said the CEC responding to a query at a press briefing at the EC Building after its dialogue with Ganotantri Party.

He, however, did not make any comment when asked whether the commission will take a special initiative to bring the BNP into the dialogue.

Election Commissioner Md Alamgir told TBS that the dialogue will not be harmed as the BNP did not attend.

"We do not think that the dialogue has been affected by their absence. But it would have been better if they had come," he added.

Regarding the parties that participated in the dialogue, he said, "Political parties have given us well thought out opinions. They have enriched us. These will definitely help in holding fair elections."

"It would have been better if all the parties had joined. For this, we have to wait for some more time," continued the election commissioner.

He said the 12th parliamentary election will be held at the end of next year or the following month and added, "We think there is still plenty of time."

In response to the question of whether they will take any initiative to bring the BNP into dialogue, Md Alamgir said, "We have taken initiatives repeatedly."

"We communicated with them for attending a meeting about electronic voting machines, but they did not come. Now we communicated with them for participating in the dialogue, but they did not turn up again. Communication will continue in the future. We will wait until the election," he added.  

The EC was supposed to hold dialogues with three political parties including BNP on Wednesday.

Apart from BNP, the 20-party alliance's Bangladesh Muslim League and Kalyan Party also boycotted the dialogue.

The EC began holding dialogues with the country's 39 registered political parties on the upcoming national election on 17 July. The dialogue will continue till 31 July.