Gono Odhikar Parishad President Nurul Haque Nur on Friday said reform and election should not be positioned against one another; they are proceeding in parallel.
"I expect the national parliamentary election to be held within the scheduled time. There is no need for unnecessary debates like election before reform or reform before election,” he remarked while speaking as the chief guest at a public rally in Singair upazila of Manikganj.
He continued: “We must find a peaceful path for how the election will be held and how power will transition. We have proposed the formation of a National Council for state reform through discussions with political parties.”
Members of this council, he explained, would include the prime minister, the president, the chief justice, the speaker and deputy speaker from both the ruling and opposition parties in parliament.
This council would then decide who will serve in the caretaker government, who will be appointed to the Election Commission, and who will be the chief of police, he said.
Nur added: “We have proposed that national elections be held every four years. The same person should not hold the positions of both party chief and head of government.”
"Ramadan is a month of self-purification for Muslims, and the time before the national election that is being afforded for reform should be seen as a time for self-purification and self-restraint for politicians. Through self-purification and self-restraint, we must present ourselves accordingly moving forward," he said.