The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has agreed, in principle, to a conditional provision limiting the tenure of a prime minister to a maximum of 10 years.
However, the party has expressed reservations about any move to undermine the executive branch by placing all authority solely under a constitutional appointments committee.
BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed made the comments on Wednesday following a meeting with the National Consensus Commission at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka.
“We are in agreement that a prime minister’s tenure should not exceed ten years in their lifetime. However, we do not support a system where the executive branch is entirely controlled by a constitutional appointments committee,” he said.
He further noted that the experience of authoritarianism under one individual should not justify rendering the executive branch powerless.
Rather, it is more important to ensure a balance of responsibility and accountability across all branches of the state, he said.
Salahuddin Ahmed also proposed that the former National Constitutional Council (NCC), now referred to as the Constitutional and Statutory Appointments Committee (Sasnic), should be strengthened by incorporating several fundamental principles.
He reiterated BNP’s commitment to ensuring accountability in constitutional institutions and bringing them under democratic oversight through legislative reforms.
He also reaffirmed the party’s adherence to the fundamental principles of the Constitution—equality, human dignity, democracy and social justice.