The Election Commission (EC) intends to begin dialogue from Sunday ahead of the upcoming thirteenth parliamentary election.
In the first phase of this dialogue, invitations are being extended to representatives of academics and civil society.
On Tuesday, EC’s Director of Public Relations, Ruhul Amin Mollik, provided this information.
He stated that letters will be sent to the invitees after obtaining the approval of the Election Commission. "We have requested the commission’s approval to hold the dialogue on Sunday. From this possible date, the commission will decide on starting the dialogue and gradually inviting others," he added.
However, no information has been provided regarding the agenda for this dialogue. Continuous dialogue is ongoing between the parties and the National Consensus Commission. The tenure of this commission is also until October 15.
According to the roadmap announced by the EC, continuous dialogue with registered political parties, academics, civil society representatives, women’s organizations, and media personnel will continue for one to one and a half months.
It is known that, as the registration process for new parties is ongoing, the EC plans to hold dialogue with the parties in October.
EC officials said that the process of preparing the list of invitees for the dialogue is underway. The plan is to send letters (invitation, number of representatives, written opinions) to the parties at least one week to ten days before finalizing the dialogue schedule. Considering weekly holidays, religious festivals, and other breaks, dialogue with the parties could continue throughout October.
This will be the first dialogue organized under the commission led by AMM Nasir Uddin. Topics such as electoral legal reforms, law and order situation, postal ballots, and overall election-related issues will be included in this dialogue.
It is notable that Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Masud has already stated: "We will start at the end of this month according to the time indicated in the roadmap. The EC Secretariat will announce this. There may be a day or two of variation, but we will proceed following the roadmap."
