EC starts process to register new political parties

The Election Commission, reaffirming that the next parliamentary polls will be held in December, yesterday initiated the registration process for new political parties.

The commission took the initiative without making any changes to the process, although the Electoral Reform Commission had proposed modifications.

The EC's work on updating the voter roll is going on in full swing and is expected to be completed by June. The commission has also taken steps to amend the existing law on demarcation of constituencies. The EC is also working to revise the guidelines for local and national observers, said top officials.

Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin said they did not want to miss the December deadline, as announced by Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad.

"We are making necessary preparations to ensure the timeline is maintained," the CEC told reporters after a meeting with British High Commissioner Sarah Cooke at the EC office in Dhaka.

"We have informed them [British envoy] about our preparations for voter and party registration. We will go for procurements needed for the election very soon. We are revising the observer policies," he said.

"The chief adviser has already blown the train's whistle, signalling that the election will be held in December or January."

EC Senior Secretary Akhter Ahmed said the political parties seeking registration ahead of the national polls were given until April 20 to submit their applications.

The registration must meet the conditions set out in the Political Party Registration Rules, 2008, he said, adding, "We have not changed any rules."

For the registration, a political party needs to meet at least one criterion out of three.

A political party will get registered if it has secured at least one seat with its electoral symbol in any parliamentary election held since the independence of Bangladesh.

The second criterion is securing five percent of the total votes cast in the constituencies, for which its candidates contested in any previous parliamentary election.

The third condition is that the party needs to set up a functional central office with whatever name it may be called, a central committee, having offices in at least one-third of the administrative districts and in at least 100 upazilas or metropolitan areas, and having a minimum of 200 voters as its members in each upazila.

If the EC finds that political parties are not abiding by the law, it can cancel their registration, said the EC officials.

The registration of political parties was introduced in 2008. Now 49 political parties are registered with the EC.

The Electoral Reform Commission recently proposed major changes to the registration process. It recommended barring individuals accused of gross human rights violations like extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearance from becoming members of parliament if charges are accepted by the International Crimes Tribunal.

It also proposed relaxing the conditions for registering new parties, with the requirement for offices reduced to 10 percent of districts and 5 percent of upazilas. The reform commission proposed that party registration renewal should be mandatory every five years.

Electoral Reform Commission chief Badiul Alam Majumdar told The Daily Star that the EC has the legal authority to start registering the political parties.

"However, it's not the right decision to start the process now. I believe they should have waited," he added.

Contacted, Election Commissioner Tahmida Ahmad defended the EC decision to start the process now, "It takes a long time to register political parties. And the notice was issued in line with the law.

"This is a regular process. If we don't do this now, how will we hold elections in December? We are working with the election in December as our target," she added.

On whether changes will occur if political parties agree on the reform proposals, Tahmida said, "If there is consensus, then changes can be made. I don't foresee any disagreement among the political parties regarding the registration process."