BNP Vice-Chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury Saturday said the United Nations is trying to establish a consensus in Bangladesh for an all-party election, following a meeting of the opposition party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, and visiting UN Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco.
“He [Taranco] advocated reaching a consensus about holding the next election. The BNP chairperson also expressed the same view. This discussion will continue.”
Chowdhury was apparently reluctant to divulge any of the meeting’s details to journalists and spoke for only a minute, after repeated requests, about the meeting, which lasted roughly 90 minutes.
At the meeting, held at Khaleda’s Gulshan office at around 6pm, Taranco reportedly said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is hoping that through dialogue, a solution will be found to hold a free and fair election in which all parties can participate.
The envoy also discussed letters that Ban has sent to both the prime minister Sheikh Hasina and the opposition leader, the former foreign secretary said.
BNP leaders Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, Abdul Moyeen Khan, Osman Farooq, Sabih Uddin Ahmed, Reaz Rahman and opposition chief whip Zainul Abdin Farroque attended the meeting.
Afterwards, Khaleda attended another meeting with the senior party leaders who were not present at the meeting with Taranco, and briefed them.
Taranco, who oversees the regional divisions of the Department of Political Affairs, is in Dhaka on a four-day trip to discuss on the upcoming national election with all stakeholders.
Earlier in the day, he met the prime minister at her residence and a BNP delegation at Sonargaon Hotel to discuss the political situation. He exchanged views with civil society representatives on Friday.
He is scheduled to hold talks with representatives of Awami League, Jatiya Party, Jamaat-e-Islami and left leaning parties. He will meet parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, foreign minister Dipu Moni and chief election commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmed Sunday.
Taranco also visited Bangladesh from December 6-9 last year at the request of the UN Secretary-General, and met top government and political party leaders – including Sheikh Hasina and Dipu Moni – as well as national electoral officials, in order to exchange views on the political situation in the country and ongoing UN electoral assistance.
During that trip, Taranco called for Bangladesh’s next parliamentary elections to be “peaceful, inclusive and credible,” and encouraged those taking part to work together and engage in constructive dialogue toward these ends.