Bangladesh: Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has announced that the upcoming national parliamentary election and the referendum on the July National Charter and reform proposals will be held on the same day.
He made the announcement on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. during a televised address to the nation, following a meeting of the Advisory Council of the interim government held at the Chief Adviser’s Office in Tejgaon, Dhaka. The speech was broadcast live on Bangladesh Television (BTV), BTV News, and BTV World.
On October 28, the National Consensus Commission submitted two alternative recommendations to the interim government outlining possible methods for implementing the July National Charter reforms.
According to the first proposal, constitutional reforms proposed in the Charter would be implemented through a special order, followed by a national referendum. If approved in the referendum, the next Parliament would act as a Constitutional Reform Council to finalize the amendments within 270 days. Should the Parliament fail to complete the process within the stipulated period, the proposed reforms would automatically become part of the Constitution.
The second recommendation was nearly identical but did not specify what would happen if the reforms were not completed within the 270-day timeframe.
The Consensus Commission left the decision on the referendum date to the government. However, the issue of how to implement the July Charter and reform proposals has been a major point of contention among political parties.
Despite repeated calls from the interim government for parties to hold discussions among themselves and provide a unified proposal, no consensus was reached. The parties neither met nor submitted any joint recommendations.
In light of the political stalemate, the interim government, under Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, has decided that the national election and the referendum will take place simultaneously—marking a major step toward implementing the July National Charter reforms.
