The Nagorik Coalition on Sunday proposed a road map to hold the next general election and the referendum seeking the opinion of voters on the July Charter and the amendments to the constitution on the same day.
The newly formed civil society platform came up with the road map at a discussion titled 鈥楴agorik Coalition鈥檚 7-point proposal for constitutional reforms鈥� organised by the platform at the International Mother Language Institute in Dhaka.
It proposed that the July Charter would be made with the signatures of all political parties and it would be the base of the constitution while the national consensus commission and the political parties would make a draft amendment to the constitution based on the consensus among political parties and the July Charter.
The referendum seeking the opinion of voters on the July Charter and the draft amendments to the constitution will be held simultaneously with the general election on the same day, it proposed.
If the voters agree, the elected parliament will approve the July Charter and the draft amendments to the constitution, it said.
If the voters disagree, the elected parliament will make decisions regarding the July Charter and the draft bill, it proposed.
It also proposed that the political parties and independent candidates would have to sign a pre-election agreement promising that they would approve the draft amendments to the constitution and the July Charter to include in the constitution after being elected.
Following the elections to 300 parliamentary seats, a parliament will be formed and the parliament will only work as a national parliament, it said.
The Nagorik coalition, however, proposed an alternative road map saying that the elected parliament would simultaneously work as the national parliament as well as the constituent assembly.
The winning party or alliance will form the government and the constituent assembly will formulate a draft constitution based on the reforms proposals within 90 days of assuming power and it will be finalised following the national consensus and the July Charter, it proposed.
However, if failed to formulate the draft of a new constitution within 90 days, the existing constitution will work.
Addressing the event, law adviser Asif Nazrul noted that drafting a new constitution could take a long time.
鈥業t can take a long time to formulate a new constitution. Will we continue with the 1972 constitution during this time?鈥� he said.
Asif proposed that the parliament active at that time could function as the constitutional authority until enacting a new constitution and making necessary amendments to the 1972 constitution.
鈥榃hen they will work as the Constituent Assembly, they can continue working on the constitution. In my opinion, it may take around two or three years,鈥� he said.
About limiting a prime minister鈥檚 tenure to two terms, Asif said that such limitation did not exist in countries like India or the United Kingdom. 鈥楯ust limiting terms is not a solution. The most important issue is to reduce the prime minister鈥檚 excessive powers,鈥� he added.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed argued that the existing constitution could be amended through national consensus instead of drafting an entirely new one.
鈥業n that case, forming a Constituent Assembly may not be necessary. Amendments are needed as the constitution has become diseased,鈥� he said.
National Consensus Commission vice-chairman Ali Riaz said that the political parties must have binding commitments to implement the July Charter.
He recalled that the political parties did not respect the written agreement of 1990.
鈥榃e are talking to them every day as the country will be run by political parties. A non-binding commitment will not gain the trust of the people,鈥� he said.
鈥業 think the principles should be fixed first. Because, unnecessary debates may arise in the areas of the principles if we start discussing the road map first鈥� he said.
鈥楳any political parties are showing enough flexibility in discussions with the NCC and they want to reach a national consensus and to create a national charter,鈥� he said.
He further said that the 12th amendment to the constitution in 1991 led to a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of the prime minister, which was the main reason behind the emergence of the past 16-year fascist rule.
On the issue of a proposed bicameral legislature, Ali Riaz said that he did not support giving excessive powers to the upper house as its main role should be oversight of different issues.
National Citizens Party convener Nahid Islam said that there was no need to build a new Bangladesh without formulating a new constitution.
He said that the existing constitution had failed to protect human rights. 鈥業t is possible to establish trust and relations between the state and the people through a new constitution.鈥�
NCC member Badiul Alam Majumder said that although the political parties agreed with many proposals of the NCC, there was disagreement over the implementation process.
鈥業f the upper house is based on the proportion of the seats in the lower house, it will consolidate the power of the ruling party. Such an upper house will be meaningless,鈥� he added.
鈥楢 Constituent Assembly has the authority to write a new constitution. But a consensus to write a new constitution has not yet been formed. In this case, we propose the election of a constitutional reform council,鈥� Ganosamhati Andolan chief coordinator Zonayed Saki said.
The Nagorik Coalition proposed seven proposals including an upper house proportional to the votes of the lower house, constitutional appointments, a caretaker government system, limiting terms for the prime minister, constitutional reorganization of four standing committees, and the appointment of deputy speakers from opposition party for both upper and lower house and keeping a mandatory session for prime minister in parliament, direct election for reserved seats for women and accepting the July Charter as the base of the national consensus.
