President Iajuddin Ahmed yesterday morning made the appointment on the advice of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, causing widespread resentment among the opposition parties whose demand for a CEC acceptable to all was turned down.

The government maintains that there is no constitutional obligation to hold talks with the opposition on the issue.

Aziz, whose appointment came a day after MA Syed's tenure as CEC expired on May 22, took his oath of office yesterday afternoon. Chief Justice Syed JR Mudassir Husain administered the oath.

On entering his new office yesterday evening, MA Aziz told journalists that his first priority is holding elections in a free and fair manner. Asked about the criticism from the opposition parties of his appointment, he said he is not involved in politics. " I am nobody's man. I rather am a friend of everybody. I will try my best to serve the nation," he added.

The mainstream opposition parties, which have long been demanding appointment of the CEC through political consensus, strongly criticised the 'unilateral appointment'. The main opposition Awami League (AL) rejected outright the appointment. Sources said AL has already taken the issue seriously, and plans to add it to the ongoing movement.

By appointing Justice Aziz as the ninth CEC, the government has carried on the long tradition of appointing the CEC from the judiciary. With the exception of Abu Hena and MA Syed, all the previous CECs were from judicial services.

The new CEC will oversee the next parliamentary elections on dissolution of the current parliament on October 27, 2006. Political observers believe holding the next general elections would be a tough task as the main opposition parties have already said that the polls will not be free and fair unless reforms in the EC and the caretaker government system are carried out.

Justice Aziz will assign new Election Commissioners (EC) before the next parliamentary elections, as the tenure of the present three ECs will expire in the coming years.

The tenure of EC Safiur Rahman will expire on June 24 this year while the terms in office of the other two ECs-- M Munsef Ali and AK Mohammad Ali-- will run out on April 18, 2006.

The present government totally ignored the opposition's demand for talks on the appointment of the CEC. The AL government in 2000 had initiated steps to consult with the opposition in this regard. Even the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina and the leader of the opposition Khaleda Zia called on the president to discuss the appointment.

But the attempts failed as the then BNP-led opposition alliance kept saying that they would select a CEC in consultation with all parties only after the AL government hands over power to a caretaker government.

Against this backdrop, the AL government appointed MA Syed as the CEC after the post had remained vacant for over two weeks.

This time, the BNP-led Four-Party alliance government has all along been rejecting the opposition's demand for discussion on the issue. Local Government and Rural Development Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Moudud Ahmed categorically rejected the demand. Moudud in an interview with the media said so far there is no instance of discussion between the government and the political parties on appointing the CEC.

PROFILE OF NEW CEC
Justice Aziz was born in Amboula village of Agailjhara, Barisal, on September 30, 1939. He had his Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in History from Dhaka University in 1961 and Master's in 1962. He completed Bar-at-Law from Inner Temple, London, in 1969 and then started practising as a lawyer in the High Court.

MA Aziz became a High Court judge in 1996 and was elevated to a judge of the Supreme Court's Appellate Division in January 2004. His term as the judge is scheduled to end in September 2006.

CEC IN HIS OFFICE
Officials of the EC secretariat were waiting at their offices till yesterday evening to welcome the new CEC. EC secretary SM Zakaria along with other officials received MA Aziz when he arrived at the office at 6:00pm.

CEC MA Aziz while speaking with journalists at the EC secretariat sought co-operation of all especially that of the political parties, as, he said, they are the major players in the electoral process.

The new CEC stayed at his office for over 20 minutes.

THE FIRST CHALLENGE
The first challenge for new CEC MA Aziz will be June 22 Narsingdi-1 by-election where main opposition AL after a long break will take part in. The party has already nominated Narshingdi district AL President Advocate Asaduzzaman as its candidate.