Staff Corrrespondent

Election Commissioner Brigadier General (Retd) Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah today said the Election Commission (EC) is preparing to hold the national elections in next December.

"Apart from this, the EC is not currently preparing for any other elections. However, if the government wants, the commission will organize local government polls before the national elections," he told a press briefing after a meeting of the EC with envoys and representatives of 18 development partner countries and agencies, including UNDP.

UNDP Resident Representative to Bangladesh, Stefan Liller was present during the briefing.

In response to questions, the election commissioner said that the chief adviser had said in his December 16 speech that if elections have to be held with a small amount of reforms and there is a political consensus, then elections can be held by the end of this year in December 2025; and in case of making more reforms, the elections can be held by June 2026.

"We said we have to prepare by assuming the earliest date. Our position is still unchanged," he said.

In response to a question about whether there was any discussion on local government elections in the meeting, Abul Fazal said a question came up about whether the two elections can be held together and how much time it might take, and those issues were discussed.

The election commissioner said that it is not possible to hold national and local government elections together.

Past experience has shown that if all local government elections are held step by step, it takes a year, he said, adding that if local government elections are held in a full-fledged way, holding the national elections will be delayed.

He said the national election is now the priority of the Election Commission.

"The Election Commission is currently preparing for the national elections. However, if the government decides to hold local government elections, it must be implemented accordingly. It is the government's decision. If the government decides to hold local government elections before the national elections, the Election Commission will implement it," said the election commissioner.

In response to another question, Abul Fazal said, the government will decide how many local government elections will be held and which institutions will be involved. Then the EC will be able to say whether it will affect the national elections or not. It is not possible to say before that, he added.

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