According to reports, besides finalizing candidates for its
own party and alliance partners, the ruling Awami League (AL) is considering
providing some seats to parties willing to join the next election amid boycotts
by major opposition parties.
The ruling party is now passing a busy time to select its
own contestants while working with seat-sharing mechanisms to create opposition
as the last date of filing nominations is approaching for the January 07, 2024
election.
Candidates for the election can submit nomination papers
until November 30, 2023. The AL is likely to announce candidates for 300
constituencies on Sunday.
The AL-led alliance partners are now adamant about joining
the election as a coalition and are now lobbying for more seats than the 11th
parliamentary polls amid uncertainty over the participation of the main
opposition BNP.
During the past general election held in 2018, the AL
candidates contested for 261 seats and refrained from participating for 26
seats in favour of the Jatiya Party, five seats in favour of the Workers Party
of Bangladesh, three each in favour of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-Jasod and
Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh, and one each in favour of the Bangladesh Tarikat
Federation and Jatiya Party.
“We are negotiating with AL for more nominations for our
party in the forthcoming election. We are pressing for more seats than in the
previous elections,” Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon told New Age.
He said that there was time until the withdrawal of
nomination papers to settle the issue.
AL joint general secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim said that
they would declare the party candidates first and then think about nominating
candidates from partners.
Asked about the AL’s negotiation with other lesser-known
political parties, he said that it was part of the party’s policy.
“We believe that any registered political party can join an
election if they want. Anyone can create alliances with anyone having similar
ideologies,” he said.
He said that there might be many political strategies, and
nothing could be guaranteed.
In addition to regular partners, some small parties,
including the newly formed Trinamool BNP, are also lobbying the Awami League
for seats in exchange for promising to join the polls.
Leaders of Trinamool BNP and some Islamic parties, including
Islami Oikya Jote, Bangladesh Islami Font, Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan,
Bangladesh Muslim League, Islamic Font Bangladesh, Bangladesh Supreme Party,
Bangladesh Islami Oikya Jote, and Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam Bangladesh, met Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina in recent days to discuss their respective election
strategies.
Neither the prime minister’s office nor AL or the parties
made any formal statements about the outcome of those meetings.
The
allegation has it that the Trinamool BNP and Bangladesh Nationalist Movement,
labelled as King’s Party by many, are negotiating with AL to become the
opposition in the parliament.
The newly-formed alliance Jukta Front, led by the Kalyan
Party, demanded a few seats, although AL insiders said they could end up with
one seat for Kalyan chairman Syed Muhammad Ibrahim, a retired major general.
BNM, Bangladesh Supreme Party, Bangladesh Muslim League, and
Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan may also get one seat, party insiders said.
Jasod, a partner of the Awami League, finalized 181
candidates, said the party general secretary, Shirin Akhter.
“We want to join the polls with the alliance. The alliance
is not only for joining polls but also a place of ideology”, she added.
Shirin said that many parties were now willing to join their
alliance, creating difficulties.
At a briefing on Friday, AL general secretary Obaidul Quader
said that they were not thinking so seriously about the political alliance in
terms of sharing seats.
“The party will not give nominations to anyone who cannot
win an election and does not have popularity among the people”, he added.
AL presidium member Abdur Rahman told New Age that the
party’s seat-sharing plan has no connection with BNP’s joining or boycotting
elections.
‘Our leader, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, will give
nominations to eligible candidates from the alliance. The party will give
candidates for 300 seats, and then our leader will decide about other
alliances,’ he said.
According to AL insiders, there is a possibility that its
alliance partners may participate in the polls independently with their own
party electoral symbols.
In that case, the AL may not give nominations to any of its
aspirants in some constituencies to create a pathway for them to win.
The ruling AL has decided to participate in the 12th Jatiya
Sangsad election in alliance in some constituencies and alone in other
consultancies, AL office secretary Biplob Barua told reporters on October 18,
2023.
The AL-led alliance was formed in 2005 and came to power for
three consecutive terms in 2009, 2014, and 2018.
The Workers Party, Jasod, Ganatantri Party, and Jatiya
Party-JP are among the most active parties in the alliance.
Ganatantri Party president Shahadat Hossain hoped that prime
minister Sheikh Hasina would make it suitable for all.
“The prime minister will meet with the alliance soon. We can
tell it only after the meeting”, he added.
AL’s preparation for the forthcoming election is underway at
a time when the leaders and activists of the main opposition BNP and its allies
keep facing arrest, raids, prosecution, and conviction.