With a deep political fragmentation among the major parties in Bangladesh, the Election Commission finds it difficult to move forward, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal said.

“I didn’t see any dialogue between them in the recent past. Their animosity is clearly evident.

If it continues, it will be difficult to move forward,” said the CEC after a meeting with a TIB delegation led by its Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman at the EC headquarters in the capital on Sunday.

“The EC does not have an infinite capacity. The EC alone can never conduct a completely fair election. A fair election requires cooperation of the political parties as well as goodwill of the government,” he remarked.

The CEC also believes the civil society members should act to improve the country’s political climate.

In the meeting, the TIB delegation sought the disclosure of information given by the candidates in their election affidavits, and action against those who give false information in their affidavits.

The CEC said, “After the national election, the EC expressed its willingness to hold large-scale talks with the TIB. That is why the anti-corruption watchdog was invited. Earlier, there was a brief exchange between the two sides.”

“The TIB’s key demand was that the candidates’ affidavit data should be provided quickly. They also wanted a free flow of information, and the publication of affidavit data on the EC website,” Habibul Awal said.

The CEC further said, “TIB commented that the last parliamentary election was not participatory, but it was fair. And we told them that our job is to make an election free and fair,”

“We also told them that the problem is political. If the political problem is not resolved, the election system will not be more stable,” he continued.

After the meeting, TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said, “We have recently published several reports focusing on democracy, accountability and good governance in Bangladesh.”

He said, “The EC told us that they want a fair and participatory election system in the country, and we also want it. Although our working methods and powers differ, our goals and objectives on the question of democracy are the same.”

“The last parliamentary election was competitive, but only through competition between only the ruling parties themselves. The EC has agreed on this. They said they acted to the best of their ability,” Iftekharuzzaman stated.

“The Chief Election Commissioner mentioned that it would have been convenient to hold the national election in phases. He made a proposal, whether the elections that are held in one day, can be done sequentially. He also proposed whether the elections can be held in five phases based on the consensus of the political parties,” he continued.