EC Preparing for National Elections in December

The Election Commission (EC) is preparing for the national parliamentary elections, which are expected to be held in December this year.

On Tuesday (February 11), Election Commissioner Abul Fazl Md. Sanaullah provided this information after a meeting at the Election Commission building with the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and ambassadors and representatives from 18 development partner countries, including the UNDP.

He stated, "Based on the Chief Adviser’s statement, we must prepare for the earliest possible date. Our position remains unchanged. We are making our preparations assuming the election will take place in December. We do not have an alternative plan; we have only one preparation—for the national elections."

Regarding local elections, EC Commissioner Sanaullah said, "From past experience, we have seen that conducting five tiers of local elections takes about a year. Holding both local and national elections together is not possible. If we conduct local elections first, the national election will be delayed. The Commission’s priority is the national election."

He further mentioned, "The government will decide how much of the local government elections will take place and which institutions will hold elections. Only then can we determine whether it will impact the national elections or not. It is not possible to say anything before that."

The meeting with UNDP representatives and ambassadors from 18 development partner countries was attended by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) A M M Nasir Uddin and other commissioners.

Additionally, representatives from Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, Australia, Spain, Canada, Germany, China, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, South Korea, the EU, the United States, and Turkey participated in the meeting.