Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Nayeb-e-Ameer Syed Abdullah Muhammad Taher on Tuesday said his party is in favour of the proportional representation (PR) system to be used in formation of the upper house of a bicameral parliament and the election of women for the reserved seats in parliament as well as introduction of a referendum for amendment of the fundamental provision of the constitutional amendment.
“More than two-third political parties expressed support in favour of the PR system (of votes) for the formation of the upper house, while less than one-third parties including BNP don’t want it ... .Now the national consensus commission will take a decision. We hope the Commission will present it in a final decision on Sunday, considering the opinions of the political parties,” he told reporters.
The Jamaat leader raised his party’s stance after the 14th day of the second-round of reform talks between the National Consensus Commission and political parties at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital.
He said except for one or two parties, most agreed on the formation of a bicameral legislature. “The Commission has proposed the PR system. A majority—more than two-thirds—support it, while less than one-third, including BNP, are against it,” he added.
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Taher said two to three proposals came up regarding the functioning of the upper house. Some proposed that constitutional amendments be passed by a simple majority; others suggested a two-thirds majority.
A few even proposed that money bills be placed before the upper house, though in such cases it would only be able to provide observations and suggestions. However, the upper house will have no authority to endorse or reject the bill. The lower house will have authority to accept or not accept the observation or suggestion of the upper house in this case.
Constitutional Amendment:
The Jamaat leader said his party fully supports the proposal that the two-thirds majority is required in the lower house for the constitutional amendment and a referendum is required for the amendment of some fundamental issues (the Preamble, Articles 8, 48, 56 and 142, and caretaker government related Articles 58K, 58G and 58Gh) of the Constitution. But his party think it require a simple majority in the upper house for constitutional amendment.
He said they support the proposal as making the constitutional amendment harder.
PR System for Women's Reserved Seats
Regarding women’s reserved seats, Taher said Jamaat supports raising the number of woman seat to 100 from the existing 50 ones but it wants PR system (of voters) to elect women for the reserve seats.