No consensus yet over some basic reform issues: Prof Ali Riaz
Published :
May 26, 2025 21:05
Updated :
May 26, 2025 21:05
The National Consensus Commission is yet to reach an agreement among political parties on several crucial reform issues, including the chief and tenure of a caretaker government, the term limit for a prime minister and the formation of the National Constitutional Council (NCC).
“Consensus has not yet been achieved on some important constitutional questions...,” said Vice Chairman of the Commission Prof Ali Riaz at a press briefing held at the LD Hall of the Jatiya Sangsad Complex on Monday, UNB reports.
These issues, he said, include the framework for the judiciary decentralisation, the appointment of the chief adviser to the caretaker government and its term, the formation of the National Constitutional Council (NCC), the term-limit for a prime minister, the number of portfolios an MP can hold, the method of electing the president and the process for amending the constitution. “These fundamental structural issues remain unresolved.”
He shared the commission's progress in building a consensus on state reform initiatives
Prof Ali Riaz, however, said many parties showed compromising attitudes over the important issues during their talks with the commission and suggested further discussion.
He said though the political parties agreed in principle on many recommendations of the Constitutional Reform Commission, there needs to be further discussion on the issues.
According to his written speech, there is no disagreement among the political parties over the restoration of the caretaker government.
Most political parties suggested refraining from writing ‘pluralism’ alongside ‘equity, human dignity, social justice and democracy’ as the basic principles of the state in the Constitution. They agreed in principle to form a bicameral parliament, although a few favoured retaining a unicameral structure, he said.
All the parties supported the formation of the 100-seat upper house, but how its members would be elected remains unresolved.
Although the majority of parties supported the proportional representation of votes as recommended by the Constitutional Reform Commission, no consensus was achieved in this regard.
There is a kind of consensus among the parties on the issue of reserving 100 seats for women in the lower house. But, there is a difference of opinion on its method.
All parties supported a proposal to appoint an opposition lawmaker as Deputy Speaker.
There is also a consensus on amending Article 48(a) of the Constitution, which defines the president’s powers, but parties differ on how to balance power between the president and the prime minister.
On the contentious Article 70, which bars MPs from voting against their party, most parties agreed to amend it. They want the bar lifted except in cases such as constitutional amendments, passage of the finance bill, and votes of confidence. Some parties also want the restriction to remain for state security-related bills.
Nearly all parties agreed on allocating the chairmanship of key parliamentary committees—such as the Public Accounts Committee, the Estimates Committee, the Public Undertakings Committee, and the Privileges Committee—to opposition lawmakers.
ACC Reform Proposals:
Political parties have largely agreed in principle to support all the recommendations of the Anti-Corruption Commission Reform Commission.
All parties agreed on the recommendation to enact laws to resolve and prevent conflicts of interest, to prevent the abuse of state and legal power.
Most of the political parties backed the proposal to give the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) constitutional recognition as an institution, as well as agreed in principle on the proposal to create the post of Ombudsman.
Recommendations for Judicial Reforms
All parties backed the creation of a Supreme Court secretariat to effectively separate the judiciary from the executive, and supported the recommendation that judges displaying political allegiance or views should be subject to disciplinary action.
The parties supported ending the president’s authority to appoint the Chief Justice and instead proposed appointing the most senior justice of the Appellate Division—or one of the top three senior justices—to the role.
All parties agreed in principle on enacting a Presidential Pardon Act to form a Pardon Board, allowing the president to act on its recommendations. However, one or two parties expressed dissent.
Electoral System Reform
Most of the parties agreed in principle on the establishment of a separate independent constituency delimitation authority. However, there are differences of opinion on this issue.
Reactions were mixed regarding the proposal to present the Election Commission’s legal, financial, and administrative proposals to an all-party parliamentary committee led by the Upper House Speaker, rather than the relevant ministries.
Most parties also agreed that any post-term complaint against election commissioners should be investigated by a proposed parliamentary committee and, based on its findings, forwarded to the president for action.
Public Administration Reform
Most parties agreed to create an independent investigation commission to identify and act against those involved in the July mass uprising atrocities and those accused of electoral fraud or corruption.
They also supported, in principle, the formation of three separate eight-member Public Service Commissions by restructuring the existing Public Service Commission.
Parties expressed mixed reactions to a recommendation for forming District and Upazila Citizen Committees—composed of people from different professions—to monitor ministries' works, similar to parliamentary standing committees.
Most supported restoring civil and criminal magistrate courts at the upazila level, in consultation with the Supreme Court as well as the formation of an independent and permanent Public Administration Reform Commission.
Prof Ali Riaz said the Consensus Commission will soon start the second round of talks in a bid to build a national consensus over reforms. During the second phase of the talks, the unresolved issues will be discussed, he added.
“We hope that it will be possible to prepare a national charter by July through the second round of discussions with political parties,” he said.
In response to a question, he said the Commission will prepare the national charter, but it will be up to the political parties to chart the implementation path, and the government will ultimately execute it.
Consensus Commission members Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar, Dr Iftekharuzzaman, Justice Emdadul Haque, Safar Raj Hossain, Md Ayub Miah, and Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant Monir Haider were present.
The Consensus Commission opened a series of talks with political parties on March 20 last to forge a national consensus on state reform initiatives undertaken by the interim government.
The Commission held talks with 33 parties and alliances including BNP, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and National Citizen Party (NCP), before concluding the first round of dialogues on May 19 last.
Formed on February 15, 2025, under the leadership of Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus, the Commission was tasked with shaping a unified national stance on critical reforms.
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