Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal is set to address the nation and announce the schedule for the upcoming general election at 7 pm today, the Election Commission has said. Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar will broadcast the CEC’s speech in the evening, EC Secretary Jahangir Alam said while briefing reporters this morning. Read: Unique Group, DNCC sign deal; Sheraton to run in full swing  Before announcing the polls schedule, a meeting will be held at the Election Commission at 5 pm today. The CEC will hold the 26th meeting of the Election Commission, said the EC secretary. The dates of nomination paper submission, evaluation, and withdrawal of candidature will be finalised at the meeting, he said. A three-tier security system has been set up at the Election Commission building on the occasion of the announcement of the next general election's schedule. Read: No scope left for dialogue now: Quader acknowledges receiving Donald Lu’s letter from Peter Haas  Apart from police, RAB and Ansar personnel have been deployed in front of the Election Commission building. Entry of visitors has been restricted inside the building. The CEC is going to announce the polls schedule amid the ongoing 48-hour blockade called by BNP, Jamaat and like-minded opposition parties to press home their one-point demand. The Election Commission is determined to hold the next general election within the stipulated time as per its constitutional obligation, CEC Kazi Habibul Awal had said earlier. Read: Films can be part of cultural revolution to beat back arson terrorism: Info Minister  The 11th national election was held on December 30, 2018. According to the constitution, the tenure of the current government will end on January 29, 2024. A total of 11,96,91,633 voters are expected to cast their votes at 42,103 polling centres across the country in the 12th general election of Bangladesh.  

Election Commission (EC) today (November 04, 2023) started discussion with all registered political parties to inform them about preparations for the 12th parliamentary election. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal is presiding over the discussion at the Election Commission building in Dhaka’s Agargaon. Thirteen registered parties have joined the discussion while three are not joining. Meanwhile, three parties did not inform the commission whether they will join or not. Ganatantri Party was not invited to the discussion. The EC has scheduled two dialogue sessions daily. The first one began at 10:30 am today which will end at 1 pm, and another will be held from 3 pm to 4:30 pm. The day-long discussion with the political parties is being held in two phases.The Election Commission invited the presidents and general secretaries of the parties or two representatives appointed by them for the dialogue. Read: Elections can't be stopped by arson: Salman F Rahman BNP and several of its allies, including the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Biplobi Workers Party, Bangladesh Kallyan Party, and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), have decided not to participate in the Election Commission dialogue. The Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), which is not in any alliance, is also boycotting the EC dialogue. Islamic Andolan Bangladesh, Khelafat Majlis, and Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis are among the Islamic parties that are boycotting the dialogue. Awami League Presidium Member Lt Col (retd) Faruk Khan and Information and Research Secretary Salim Mahmud are representing the party in the dialogue, said the party's Office Secretary Biplab Barua. Read: Now 11.96 crore voters in Bangladesh: EC According to the constitution, parliamentary election must be held within 90 days before the end of the five-year term of parliament. The term of the current parliament ends on January 29, 2024 while the 90-day count starts from November 1, 2023. The Election Commission said that it is preparing to announce the schedule of the national election in mid-November and hold the election in January. Earlier in July 2022, the EC held a dialogue with the political parties to prepare the action plan for the 12th national election while few political parties including Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) did not attend the dialogue. Read more: EC going to stage mockery in the name of dialogue at govt’s behest: BNP

The United States has said it is "closely monitoring" the electoral environment in Bangladesh leading up to January’s national election, and they take incidents of violence "very seriously". At a regular briefing at the US Department of State on Tuesday (October 31, 2023), Spokesperson Matthew Miller said they are engaging and will continue to engage with the government, opposition, civil society, and other stakeholders to urge them to work together for the benefit of the Bangladeshi people, and to ensure free and fair elections that are conducted in a peaceful manner. All political actors urged by UN rights body to shun violence "We do believe that dialogue is important to achieving those goals," he said. Miller said holding of free and fair elections is the responsibility of everyone - all political parties, voters, government, civil society, and the media. BAF delegation visits India’s Dimapur "And what we want in Bangladesh is the same thing the Bangladeshi people want, which are free and fair elections conducted in a peaceful manner," the US State Department spokesperson said. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal on Tuesday said the Election Commission has no option except to hold election on time as per the constitution. “The EC has to hold the election on time, no matter what the situation is,” the CEC told journalists after his meeting with US Ambassador Peter Haas. Responding to a question, US State Department Spokesperson Miller said, “Let me just say that we have made clear that we expect the Government of Bangladesh, as we expect every government, to comply with their obligations under the Vienna Conventions for the safe protection of diplomats.” British high commissioner discusses upcoming elections with AL leaders

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (October 31, 2023) said she will have dialogue with the opposition if the US President Joe Biden does the same with former president and 2024 US presidential candidate Donald Trump.  “Is (US President) Biden holding dialogue with Mr Trump? If Biden sits with Trump for dialogue, then I will hold the dialogue (with opposition),” she said at a press conference referring to the US ambassador's call for dialogue with the opposition earlier today. Also read: PM Hasina describes as successful her visit to Belgium for Global Gateway Forum Following a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal, the US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas expressed hope that all sides going forward will engage in a “dialogue” without preconditions to de-escalate tensions and find a path forward to free, fair and peaceful elections. The prime minister also said that the people of Bangladesh “do not want any dialogue with killers.” “No dialogue with the killers. This is Bangladesh. People of the country also do not want any dialogue with killers,” she told the press conference. Election will be held and it will be in due time, she added. Also read: Some foreign orgs should apply for registration to form political platform: Momen The prime minister accused the BNP of wanting to create an unusual situation ahead of the national election. “BNP does not want an election; they want to create an unusual situation,” she said.  “BNP is a party of terrorists,” PM Hasina said. Also read: Haas meets CEC, hopes all sides will engage in dialogue without preconditions

The Election Commission has no option except holding election on time as per the constitution, Chief election commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said today (October 31, 2023). “The EC has to hold the election on time, no matter what the situation is,” the CEC told journalists after his meeting with US Ambassador Peter Haas earlier today. Read: Haas meets CEC, hopes all sides will engage in dialogue without preconditions The CEC said the issue of favorable election environment and preparations for the upcoming national election were discussed during the meeting with the US ambassador. “We want all political parties to participate in the election. This, however, does not mean that the election will not be held if the environment is not favorable,” the CEC said. “Political parties have many options. They can either participate in or boycott the election, but the Election Commission does not have any such option,” he added. Read: CEC to meet president on Nov 5 regarding announcement of nat’l election schedule The CEC said, the US ambassador hoped for dialogue among the political parties. “We expressed the the same,” the CEC said. Problems will not be solved by demonstration of force on the streets. “He (US Ambassador Peter Haas) also believes that the problems should be solved through dialogue,” the Chief Election Commissioner said.

US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas today (October 31, 2023) hoped that all sides going forward will engage in a “dialogue” without preconditions to de-escalate tensions and find a path forward to free, fair and peaceful elections. “Political violence by any side has no place in democratic elections,” he said after his meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal at the EC office. US Ambassador Haas also urged to avoid any action that undermines the democratic election process, including the use of violence, preventing people from exercising their rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly, and internet access – calling to question the ability to conduct free and fair elections. Read more: US says killing of a police officer and a political activist, burning a hospital and buses are unacceptable Thanking the CEC for his time, the US ambassador said during their meeting, he urged for transparency and accountability in the Election Commission’s unique constitutional role in essential work towards organizing elections. He said that free and fair elections, as they all know, happen over weeks and months before the actual day votes are cast. US Ambassador Haas said voters, political parties, government, security forces, civil society, media and the Election Commission all are responsible regarding that. Read more: CEC to meet president on Nov 5 regarding announcement of nat’l election schedule

The Chief Election Commission of Bangladesh will meet with President Mohammed Shahabuddin on November 5 regarding the announcement of the election schedule, according to Bangabhaban. The Election Commission (EC) sought a meeting with the president to discuss the 12th national parliament election yesterday.  The commission led by Kazi Habibul Awal wanted to hold this meeting between November 1 and 5. Read more: No election without caretaker govt: Acting Ameer of Jamaat The Election Commission said it will hold a meeting after the meeting with the president. The schedule of the 12th national election may be finalized at that meeting. Returning officers may be appointed then. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal will then announce the schedule of the general election through an address to the nation on Bangladesh Television. A meeting with the president before announcing the schedule for national election is a long-time practice. Read more: If BNP genuinely wanted elections, they wouldn’t have resorted to acts of terrorism: Quader

The final number of voters in the voter list updation-2022 will be published on Thursday marking the National Voter Day. With this, the Election Commission (EC) is going to observe the voter day for the fifth time this year with the slogan ‘will be voter following rules and vote for the competent candidates’.   The EC chalked out several programmes to observe the day to be launched through bringing out a rally from in front of the EC Bhaban in participation with the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other commissioners around 8.30am. A discussion meeting on the importance and significance of the voter day will be held in the EC Bhaban around 4pm. CEC Kazi Habibul Awal will attend as the chief guest.  Apart from this, an enthralling cultural event is scheduled to be held on Thursday evening. Three election officers will be honoured  for discharging duties with competency and credit. Along with the EC headquarters, the voter day will be observed in a befitting manner at all offices across the country tomorrow. The election affairs body ‘FEMBoSA’ belonging to SAARC decided to observe the voter day on March 2 every year in 2013.   Later, a proposal was sent to the EC with the recommendation to observe the day as the National Voter Day. The EC unanimously took the decision to mark the day every year since then.   

The Election Commission will do its best to remove the trust deficit about it for holding a credible national election, CEC Kazi Habibul Awal said on Monday. “We want to hold elections remaining above all (sorts of biasness) by removing the crisis of trust,” the chief election commissioner said this at a dialogue with media personalities at the Nirbachan Bhaban here. Read: EC to hold polls with cooperation from all parties: CEC  Awal said they started talks with stakeholders as soon as they took over the charge of the Election Commission. “We’ll note your opinion and review it. The roadmap for the next 12th national election will be prepared taking opinion from of the dialogues,” he said. Senior journalists from different electronic media joined the dialogue on Monday as part of a series of such meetings to elicit opinion on how to hold a free and fair election in the country. Read: New CEC’s sweet words not a guarantee: BNP Earlier, the EC, constituted in February last, sat with educationists, civil society members and senior journalists from print media in three phases.