Editorial
A step in the right direction
Election without reforms unthinkable
At last the government has taken a concrete step forward. From its nebulous phone call based offer of a dialogue to the opposition, BNP secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan has sent the much-awaited letter to his AL counterpart Abdul Jalil. The BNP leader has officially sought names of opposition representatives for a PM proposed committee to discuss the electoral reform proposals submitted by the leader of opposition Sheikh Hasina. This ice-breaking development has two other positive elements. First, the whole range of electoral reform issues including those related to the caretaker government system will come under discussion as is evidenced in the open-ended offer for dialogue. Secondly, in a prompt initial response, the AL presidium members met in an emergency meeting, discussed the government invitation and promised to get back to the ruling party quickly after consulting the AL chief and their alliance partners. The graceful acceptance of the letter marks a break with the tradition of rejections. It is noteworthy that the move towards a dialogue is taking shape following the formal articulation of proposals by Sheikh Hasina in parliament. The point we are trying to drive is, this could have happened a few months back had the opposition leader gone to parliament and tabled her proposals that much earlier. Be that as it may, the government's letter and the opposition's first reactions augur well. From here on, a process of engagement should start replacing the hitherto stubborn one of standoff. That's what the nation expects. There is however no underestimating the magnitude of the task ahead if we are to clear the deck for the elections. There are serious flaws literally built into the electoral system and its practical manifestations. Both the ruling and opposition parties know it. The issue of reforms is, therefore, both urgent and undeniably indispensable. The situation is further complicated by the activities of the Chief Election Commissioner and his terribly flawed voter list preparation. The election will be put in jeopardy if the reforms are not carried out. All this compels us to assert that, without a dialogue resolving the fundamental concerns, going to the elections will be simply foolhardy. Hence, the centrality of the dialogue process which is just about to be initiated.
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