Just days before the finalisation of the draft July National Charter 2025, deep disagreements persist among political parties over an appointment process for the Chief Adviser of the caretaker government and the election system for the women's reserved seats in parliament.
Political parties failed to reach a decision on these issues through 21 sessions of the second-round of dialogues under the National Consensus Commission (NCC), held over months at the city’s Foreign Service Academy.
The NCC, very much led asaims to build a consensus over the reform initiatives by July 31 to finalise the July National Charter.
The NCC placed a revised proposal on Tuesday over the appointment process of the caretaker chief.
According to the latest proposal, a five-member search committee comprising of the Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker (from the opposition) and a representative from the third largest party in Parliament, will select the chief adviser from a list of 12 nominees --- five names each nominated by the ruling party and the main opposition and two names by the third largest party—on the basis of consensus or at least 4-1 majority.
If the committee fails, then it will be expanded to a seven-member body incorporating two justices from the higher court before going for a ranked choice voting system.
The seven members will attend the ranked choice voting to pick the chief adviser. The provisions mentioned in the 13th amendment of the constitution have been proposed as the last option to select the caretaker chief, dropping the president from the provisions.
Bangladesh's NCC struggles to reach consensus on key reform issues
“This new inclusion of the ranked choice voting seemed to us to be the easiest way to solve the problem and was discussed in detail. This is where we are unable to reach a consensus on the area of this ranked choice,” NCC Vice Chair Prof Ali Riaz said during a post-dialogue briefing on Tuesday evening.
He said three-fourth of the participant political parties and alliances supported the Commission’s proposal, but BNP and several other parties raised objection to the ranked choice system and indicated they may issue a note of dissent if this method is adopted.
Noting that the responsibility to take decisions over several issues including the Upper House formation was entrusted with the NCC, Prof Riaz said the Commission will now take a final decision over it (the caretaker government issue).
During the session, BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed proposed that exploration of an option in place of the ranked choice system to be left for the next parliament.
About the women's representation, the NCC vice chair said all parties agreed in principle to increase the number of women’s seats in parliament to 100, but there are differences regarding the election process for the women's seats.
“We are nearing to a consensus over how to increase the women representation gradually both in principle and in process,” he said.
The NCC will place a revised proposal over it on Wednesday.
“We will be able to reach a consensus on the issue of women's representation tomorrow. This is a positive development that has happened today,” he said.
CAG and Ombudsman:
On the issue of constitutional appointments for the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and Ombudsman, Prof Riaz said most parties have backed the proposal to include a constitutional provision for forming a selection committee to appoint the CAG and the Ombudsman. But consensus has not yet been reached over it.
Consensus Commission begins talks with political parties
Regarding the Ombudsman, all parties agreed that steps must be taken to implement the existing constitutional provision, which has remained dormant since independence. “The law exists but hasn’t been put into action. Parties agree that it’s time to institutionalise the Ombudsman’s office,” he said.
However, BNP and some others parties oppose incorporation of new provisions in the constitution over the CAG and Ombudsman offices saying the bodies should be strengthened by changing the existing laws instead.
July National Charter:
Prof Riaz said a draft of the national charter has already been sent to the political parties to review it. The Commission will also send the reform proposals agreed during the first-round dialogue to the political parties by Wednesday.
“We’re still hopeful that we will give a complete shape to the national charter by July 31,” he said.