Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General Hamidur Rahman Azad said his party is prepared for the upcoming national elections but the necessary level playing field for free and fair elections is yet to be established in the country.
He also stressing the need for ensuring equal opportunity for all political parties in the electoral process.
Rahman made the remarks while speaking to journalists after a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin at the Election Commission headquarters in Agargaon of the capital on Thursday afternoon.
The Jamaat leader said, “We have no objection if the election is held in February. We proposed to the Commission to announce a timeline for holding elections either in February or April”. “However, we did not force the government here. We were flexible. If the government is ready, it can do it on this timeline”, he said
He said “A level playing field has not yet been established in Bangladesh. Therefore, along with other demands, we have strongly emphasised that equal opportunities must be ensured for all, which is still absent.”
Regarding the demand for elections under the Proportional Representation (PR) system, the Jamaat leader said, “Although the PR system is new for Bangladesh, it is not new for the world. Elections were held in 91 democratic countries of the world using the PR system”.
“We sincerely believe this (PR) system would be beneficial for the country and would be the best method to ensure fair elections. The PR system is a way to prevent vote rigging”, Azad said.
Referring to the national elections as one of the main reasons for the political crisis in the past 53 years, he said, “Black money has been used here, the centre has been captured. To stop that, PR would be a good method.”
He said, Jamaat-e-Islami has always been vocal about fair elections with the Election Commission, the government and the people of Bangladesh.
However, Hamidur Rahman did not say anything clearly on the question of whether Jamaat-e-Islami will go to the elections without PR. He said, “We have participated in all acceptable elections and represented them in the parliament.”
“We are preparing candidates for all 300 constituencies and are reaching out to the people. We are working to build public opinion,” he said.