Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Raushan Ershad on Thursday expressed hope that the upcoming national  election will be a participatory, free, fair and impartial model election.

“No one wants the recurrence of election-related violence, conflict and loss of lives in the country…,” she said while delivering her valedictory speech in Parliament.

 The leader of the opposition party said that various countries, including the United States, called for the free and fair conduct of the upcoming parliamentary elections.

On the contrary, Bangladesh has said that the government is determined to hold free, fair and credible elections.

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“The main goal of the Election Commission will be to make all the parties election-oriented. How much successful they will be in this regard is now a matter to be seen,” she said.

She said that the new Election Commission does not have much time to hold the next national elections.

“In the meantime, all preparations should be completed...It is expected that the Election Commission will turn the 12th Parliament election into a 'model election' through a participatory, free, fair and impartial one,” she said.

She said that in a democratic system, the state will be run on the basis of the direct opinion of the people.

“The Election Commission will accept the opinion of respected citizens. Voting is the medium of expression of citizens.”

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The opposition leader mentioned that the EC is the constitutional body to organise, hold, count votes and announce the results of this voting system.

“In this case, the state has also given many powers to the Election Commission during the election. The Commission may seek any assistance from the government  in the interest of free and fair elections, and the government is obliged to provide the same.”

Therefore, she said, elections can be made free and fair only if the EC strives to fulfil its mandated duties.

She said that the national elections are still five months away.

In this connection, she requested to take necessary steps to make citizens aware about voting at the field level now.

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The opposition leader said that this year's budget is very important for three reasons. The global situation caused by the COVID-19  and the Ukraine-Russia war has led to an increase in the price of crude oil and the imposition of various international restrictions.”

“The government was forced to accept the IMF loan. Now meeting the conditions for reforming poses a new challenge.”

She said that due to various reasons, remittances have decreased and the dollar crisis has created a strain on the foreign exchange reserves.

She mentioned that the life of low and middle income people has become miserable due to inflation, rise in commodity prices, unregulated syndicates in the market and some mismanagement.

“The big challenge now is to provide relief to the people by controlling the market with quick special measures.”

She said that the prices of all types of daily products including food products are increasing at an abnormal rate in the country's market.

“Consumers are now in a suffocating situation due to continued inflation. The lower and middle classes are the most vulnerable.”

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She mentioned that the anarchy of dishonest syndicates is working more than the geo-economic influence behind the inflation of the country.

She said that inflationary pressure is so severe that it can change the course of any country, even the world.

“Therefore, in addition to dealing with rational price inflation, attention should be paid to these opportunity seekers - those who are taking advantage of the situation and are benefiting themselves, putting the entire country and nation in danger.”

The leader of the opposition party said that due to the lack of proper monitoring and firm action by the government, the retail traders are also selling products at unreasonable prices.

“Every consumer product has gone beyond people's purchasing power due to the manipulation of ultra-profitable businessmen,” she said.

She said that those who have some savings are using those.

“If this situation continues, the situation may get worse in the future. As a result, no matter how much development is done, if the daily life of the common people is not easy, affordable and manageable, then these developments will be meaningless to many.”

Therefore, she expects the government to be more sincere in checking inflation.

The leader of the opposition party said that the information given by the Ministry of Health about the outbreak of dengue is undoubtedly worrying.

In the current year, she said, more than 1800 dengue patients were admitted in different hospitals of the country.

She said that this number was 310 at the same time last year. Last year no dengue patients died at this time, but this year several people died already.