The Left Democratic Alliance (LDA), a coalition of left-leaning political parties, has called for holding the national election within December this year.
In a statement today (30 May), the alliance said, “The claim that no one but one party wants elections in December is far from the truth. The Left Democratic Alliance considers such remarks to be misleading and purposeful.”
They said it is not just one party, but more than 50 political parties, both registered and unregistered, want the general elections to be held in December.
The statement comes in response to a comment made by CA Yunus at the 30th Nikkei Forum in Tokyo, Japan, yesterday (29 May).
Mentioning that some politicians want elections in December this year, he said, “We don’t want to leave the country with the old institutions remaining as it is. If we need a good job at the reforms, we have to wait for six months more [for the election].”
“There are opinions that let’s get the election done, but it is not all, just one particular party,” Yunus said.
The alliance demanded that the necessary electoral reforms be carried out soon, the election be held within December as per people’s aspiration, and the power be handed over to the elected government.
They alleged that the interim government has adopted a strategy of delaying the election, in order to implement “the agenda of American imperialism” and to “politically favour a new party formed with state backing”.
They also alleged that the newly formed political party along with certain extreme communal groups and parties, including some war criminals and perpetrators of crimes against humanity from 1971, are creating anarchy in the country to foil the upcoming election.
These actions could plunge the country into a dangerously volatile situation, the alliance warned .
The statement was jointly issued by Iqbal Kabir Zahid, central coordinator of the alliance and general secretary of the Revolutionary Communist League of Bangladesh; Shah Alam, president of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB); Ruhin Hossain, its general secretary; Bazlur Rashid Firoz, general secretary of the Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Basad); Masud Rana, coordinator of Basad (Marxist); Mushrefa Mishu, general secretary of the Democratic Revolutionary Party; and Abdul Ali, executive president of the Socialist Party of Bangladesh.