Adviser Asif Nazrul clarifies his statement on election next year
Some media outlets have presented his conditional assumptions as election announcements and that is not correct, says the adviser
Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Asif Nazrul has said that the schedule of the national election will be fixed under the leadership of the interim government's Chief Adviser (CA) Prof Muhammad Yunus as it is a very important policy decision.
"He [Yunus] alone has the authority to declare it [schedule]," he said in a statement posted on Facebook today (19 October), further explaining his remarks made in a TV programme last Thursday night.
During a discussion in the programme, titled "Ajker Patrika", on private TV station Channel i that night, he had said that the next national election may be arranged by the next year - 2025 - after completing the pre-election preparations, including the formation of a new Election Commission (EC) through a search committee.
He also said that the new EC will then prepare a flawless voters' list and then an election will be held.
"I think realistically, holding the election may be possible by next year. There are many factors. This is a preliminary assumption by me," he said when Daily Manabzamin Chief Editor Matiur Rahman Chowdhury wanted to know about the election schedule.
In his Facebook post today, Nazrul said, "In a recent discussion on TV, I said that elections may be possible within the next year, but there are many factors involved. I did not get a chance to fully explain these factors there."
"However, everyone will understand from our government's statements that reforms and political consensus are being talked about for the election. These are the factors," he added.
Nazrul continued, "I also spoke about the reforms in that programme. I have explained some other factors in the programme, such as the formation of search committee and Election Commission, preparing the voter list, etc.
"If these factors remain favourable, the election might possibly be held next year. I said that this was also just my initial guess."
However, some media outlets have presented these conditional assumptions as election announcements, he said. "Respectfully, this is not correct."
Meanwhile, regarding the remarks on a possible election schedule made by Nazrul, the interim government's Religious Affairs Adviser AFM Khalid Hossain yesterday (18 October) said those were not the official statements of the government.
"Until the government makes a specific announcement, the election schedule is not fixed," he said, adding that national polls will take place after the completion of state reforms.