The Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party alliance has decided to take part in the coming presidential election and has named Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) chairman Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmad as its presidential candidate.
National Citizen Party (NCP) convener Nahid Islam announced the decision on Sunday (9 August) at a press conference of the 11-party alliance at the leader of the opposition’s official residence on Minto Road in the capital. The decision was taken earlier at a meeting of top alliance leaders chaired by Jamaat Amir and opposition leader Shafiqur Rahman, which began at 11:30am.
Those taking part included Jamaat, the NCP, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis, the Bangladesh Nezam-e-Islam Party, the Bangladesh Development Party, the National Democratic Party (Jagpa), the LDP, the Amar Bangladesh Party (AB Party) and the Bangladesh Labour Party.
At the press conference, Oli Ahmad said: “I am grateful to all 11 parties and to the people of Bangladesh. Everyone felt that, as a freedom fighter and a tested man with no allegations of corruption against him, I am qualified. Through you we want to tell the nation that, from our position, we will never betray this nation. We will always stand by the people to protect their interests.”
Nahid Islam said the meeting had discussed the BNP government’s post-election stance, the referendum verdict, the July Charter and its implementation, among other issues. He said the July Charter had been discussed at length in the commission, including a proposed new formula for holding the presidential election so that all could jointly elect a widely acceptable president, and how the president’s powers could be increased for a balance of power.
“Our expectation was that after the election a president would be elected in line with the July Charter — that on the basis of the mandate the people gave in the referendum, where about 70 percent voted for the July Charter, the charter would be implemented, a constitution-reform council formed, and a new president elected under a reformed constitution,” Nahid said.
“But we have seen this government deny the referendum’s popular verdict. It has taken no step to implement the July Charter; the reform council has not been sworn in and no session called. There are also allegations of politicising various institutions, and we believe the Election Commission too is being politicised,” he alleged.
Nahid said that on the first day of parliament’s first session he had called for the removal of the outgoing president, whom he described as a collaborator of fascism, and the swift appointment of a new president under the July Charter, but that the government had kept him in office for six months and was now giving him a “free exit” without any trial — which, he said, the alliance found suspect. He questioned whether there was a political motive behind extending that six-month period, given the importance of the president’s role in a future caretaker arrangement.
He said BNP had, at various times in its past, tried to keep the process of transferring power under its own control, creating repeated political and constitutional crises, and that such long-term issues had also been discussed at the meeting.
On choosing Oli Ahmad, Nahid said he was an experienced politician and a front-line freedom fighter who had held important ministries at various times and been elected an MP more than once, and that the alliance had decided to nominate him for president considering his long political experience, his role in the Liberation War and his experience in running the state.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report