The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Chances of holding the general election before December are now slim, one Election Commissioner said yesterday, citing the uncertainty about their dialogue with BNP as a drawback.

"Elections will be held according to our roadmap, that is, national elections by December 2008. I think elections can't be held earlier, as we often said we'd hold the elections earlier if possible," Election Commissioner M Sohul Hussain said while talking to UNB over telephone.

"But if preparations completed earlier, then the elections surely would be held earlier," he, however, said as a matter of reference to their oft-repeated observation, a day before the EC opens its second round of dialogue with political parties keeping BNP on the sidelines.

When asked about the pending dialogue with BNP that is delaying progress on the EC's election roadmap, he again struck a note of skepticism, saying how the elections could be held before December if the feuding factions of BNP does not resolve their difference of opinion.

"We're waiting either for the court's decision or the factions (of BNP) to get together," Sohul said, adding that the EC is concerned about the deadlock over dialogue with BNP that is holding back election roadmap.

Ignoring Khaleda-appointed BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain, the EC on November 5 2007 had sent a letter to Maj (retd) Hafiz, the BNP standing committee-nominated acting secretary general, to participate in the first round of dialogue on electoral reforms.

The Election Commission took the decision under 'doctrine of necessity' in the wake of a tug-of-war between the two squabbling groups in the immediate-past ruling party amid a topsy-turvy in the political arena in the interim period.

On November 18, the High Court stayed the operation of the EC letter inviting the reformist BNP faction to November 22 dialogue on electoral reforms, as detained party chief Khaleda Zia challenged the EC decision. Following the decision, the EC, on November 19, cancelled its dialogue with BNP and rounded off the first-round dialogue through talks with the other parties.

Now, after a stalemate, the EC is going to open tomorrow (Sunday) its second round of dialogue with the parties to finalize the electoral reform proposals, designed as prerequisites for holding free and fair elections to get out of the past cycle of political crises.

The dialogue opens with the first sitting with Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh, this time striking the factious BNP off the talk list. The dialogue would continue till February 28.