BNP Standing Committee Member Mirza Abbas on Friday said the people of Bangladesh will reject the Proportional Representation (PR) system in the election just as they rejected Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

“Teach people first how to vote. Then speak about the PR system. Don’t confuse the nation with strange experiments like PR,” Abbas said while addressing a rally in the capital’s Jatrabari area.

The rally was organised by BNP Dhaka South City Unit to mark the first anniversary of the July-August Mass Uprising, commemorating the martyrs.

Mirza Abbas said many elderly voters have forgotten how to cast their vote over the past 17 years, while the younger generation has yet to experience the voting process.

Calling the PR initiative a ploy to delay the next national election, he said there is an evil purpose behind introducing the PR system.

Some parties will agree to participate under the PR system, and others will refuse. Then it will be said elections camnot be held and the government should be given more time, he added.

“Stop these tricky and nonsense acts,” Mirza Abbas said, adding the election should be held in a voting system which the people of this country are habituated to.

“This nation didn’t accept EVMs when Sheikh Hasina tried to impose it. So, they won't accept your PR system either,” said the BNP leader.

In a veiled reference to Jamaat-e-Islami, Abbas said there is a certain party which always wants to do the opposite of what BNP does.

They have never dreamt of becoming ministers on their own merit. They climb up by clinging to others—sometimes riding Awami League, sometimes BNP, and now the NCP. “But this won’t help them,” he said.

He said Jamaat’s wrong decision to join the 2008 election ultimately invited immense damages to the party and its top leaders. Its many leaders were hanged and BNP leader Salahuddin Kader was executed, he said.

“Don’t make the same mistake again. It may bring damage to many people,” he warned.

Abbas called for the arrangement of a fair election in honour of those who sacrificed their lives in the 2024 mass uprising and long democratic struggle.

Criticising the interim government for delay in announcing a specific timeframe for the upcoming election, he said “Why is the government delaying the announcement of the date for election? What conspiracy is hiding behind this delay—only Allah knows,” he said.

The BNP also blasted the government for not standing by all the victims of the 2024 mass uprising.

“If the government can’t help them (the families of those martyred or injured in the mass uprising), then just say so. BNP leaders and activists are ready to take responsibility,” Abbas added.

He accused the current regime of complete moral decay. “This government is rotten from head to toe,” the BNP leader said.

Dhaka South BNP Convener Rafiqul Alam Mojnu presided over the event conducted by its member secretary Tanvir Ahmed Robin.