Dhaka: Several political parties in Bangladesh reiterated their demand for holding the national election by December, rejecting recent remarks made by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus in Japan regarding the elections. Yunus had said that “no one except one party wants elections in December,” local media reported on Saturday.
The parties, including Gono Forum, the Left Democratic Alliance, and the 12-Party Alliance, have slammed Yunus’s claim, calling it “false, misleading, and damaging to the political atmosphere.”
“Under the same agenda, a newly formed political party supported by the government — along with some radical communal groups and parties involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity during 1971 — is engaging in various destructive activities to destabilise the country and sabotage the election,” they said in a statement. Over 50 registered and unregistered political parties have called for parliamentary elections by December and termed Yunus’ comments a blatant falsehood and intentionally misleading, according to local media reports.
Meanwhile, Gono Forum labelled Yunus’ remarks as “incorrect” and voiced concern that such statements from the chief advisor and others in the interim government were causing confusion and rift among political parties. At the meeting of the Gono Forum praesidium council on Friday, a demand was made for the immediate announcement of a concrete election roadmap. The leaders of the forum stated that in the past nine months, the interim regime had not taken any effective steps to restore law and order and address instability in public administration. Additionally, the forum stated that no meaningful reforms or visible efforts had been made to guarantee free, fair, and credible elections, local media reported. (IANS)
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