Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) A M M Nasir Uddin has said it is not yet possible to announce a date for local government elections, adding that timing will depend on factors including Durga Puja, flooding, and students’ annual examinations.
He made the remarks Monday, August 24, after an Excel Executive Leadership Dialogue titled “Strategic Leadership for Bangladesh Local Government Election,” held at the Electoral Training Institute (ETI) building.
The CEC said the Election Commission needs to amend certain laws and regulations for the local government elections, but that this would not take much time. “We have finished our part of the work and sent it to the ministry for vetting,” he said.
“There is no shortfall in our commitment,” he said. “We won’t do worse than the [national] election we held, and the way we held it — in fact we want to do even better. We can’t go below the standard we set in that election, so that standard will hold. If we can, we’ll do even better. I hope that with everyone’s cooperation, we will be able to. There will be no problem.”
Asked whether the government had indicated when local government elections would be held, the CEC said: “The government will not decide on the local government election — we will. We will make the decision ourselves, in consultation and discussion with the government. We will set the date. It isn’t the case that the government will give a date and we’ll simply announce it. Our overall preparations are ongoing.”
Other election commissioners and the EC secretary, along with senior officials of the commission, were present at the event.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report