Irrespective of their political affiliations, most of the respondents of a survey have opined that the ruling Awami League and the BNP must immediately enter into a dialogue.
The Democracy International Inc. survey, conducted by research body Nielsen from January 11-15, interviewed 1,500 adult Bangladeshis of various ages from across the country.
“Seven out of 10 of both BNP and Awami League supporters want their party to compromise and immediately enter dialogue in order to end the political stalemate,” the survey report said.
In reply to the query on whether the “current government should engage in a dialogue with the BNP and come to an agreement on new elections arrangement,” 57% of the interviewees responded in the positive, while 24% said the opposite.
Before the January 5 election this year, the Awami League and the then main opposition BNP held at least three rounds of talks under the mediation of UN envoy Oscar Fernandez-Taranco. However, just like the secretary general level talks back in 2006, these latest rounds also failed to produce any meaningful outcome.
The respondents were asked a number of questions about what should be the next course of action of the two parties. One of the questions was whether the BNP should “give in to the Awami League’s proposal” and seat for a dialogue; 74% of the respondents said BNP should give in.
Another question was whether the Awami League should “give into the BNP’s proposal” and seat for a dialogue; 83% of the respondents said “yes.”
The survey report did not specify what “BNP’s proposal” and “Awami League’s proposal” meant.
The BNP has been demanding that the government reinstalled the caretaker system in the constitution before entering any dialogue, while the Awami League wants BNP to cut ties with Jamaat-e-Islami before talks.
The survey report also said: “52% of the respondents think BNP should immediately enter a dialogue with the government and cease agitation.”
When asked whether they agreed “to hold election under elected members of all-party government headed by Sheikh Hasina,” 51% of the respondents replied in the negative.