Urges cooperation from all stakeholders
The upcoming election is going to be a "tone-setting" moment for what kind of country and democratic journey people want to see in the future, Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah said today.
"This is going to be the most consequential election in Bangladesh after independence. We are standing before a very important election. There are several other dimensions to this election," the election commissioner said while speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural session of a daylong journalist training programme this morning.
He said, "Bangladesh's electoral system has been severely damaged. We are trying to repair this damaged system and restore it to the proper state."
"We are also trying to reorganise and restructure it. However, this work can't be implemented by the commission alone. Cooperation from all stakeholders in the election will be needed,"
Sanaullah said this time there will be two votes, so everyone needs to be a bit more sensitive about time.
"In the mock voting, it was seen that a voter is taking an average of 3 minutes 52 seconds. Those who vote without reading the ballot are taking 2 minutes. And those who read the ballot before voting are taking 7–8 minutes. We know this reality. The number of centres will not increase, nor will the number of booths. We need to make our voting management smarter," he said.
He said, "We are introducing a QR code system so that fake journalists cannot enter anywhere using cards."
At the event, EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said, "The arrangements for the election and the referendum ahead of us are huge undertakings, and one complements the other. Many people have questions about the referendum having only one answer for its four questions."
He added, "During discussions in the advisory council, it was said that political parties usually have 20 points in their manifestos. Not everyone agrees with all of them, but people consider the overall picture. The referendum is similar -- you will cast your vote considering the entire package. We are now in the tide of the election. Everyone wants the best election of the century."
