Dhaka: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda on Thursday defended his remark that Ziaur Rahman, the founder of BNP, reestablished multiparty democracy in the country.

He claimed that he made the remark based on facts and he did not do it to make anyone happy.

Nurul Huda made the claim at a post-dialogue press conference at Nirbachan Bhaban in the city. The Election Commission’s three-month dialogue with different stakeholders concluded on Tuesday last.

‘Yes, I still own it. I made the remark based on facts. He reestablished the multiparty democracy,’ the CEC said replying to a question if he still owns his remark that Ziaur Rahman restored the multiparty democracy in the country.

He made the remark at the EC’s dialogue with BNP October 15 last.

‘When Ziaur Rahman, also a former President of the country, formed the new political party on September 30, 1977, there was no democracy in the country. There is no existence of democracy from 1975 to 1977. But there had been democracy before it,’ Nurul Huda added.

Explaining his remarks, Huda said reestablishment means restoration of anything what existed earlier. ‘What I uttered was reestablishment, not establishment that means the multiparty democracy prevailed in the past and the multiparty democracy came back. And the multiparty election was held on the basis of it and all the parties, including Awami League participated in the election in 1978, and many parties took part in the parliamentary elections in 1979 and many parties joined Parliament.’

He said Awami League leaders did not raise any question over the remark in the dialogue held between the EC and the ruling party on October 18 last.

‘They didn’t raise any question to me over it on that day. They didn’t seek any explanation. They perhaps understood my stance hearing my speech,’ the CEC said when his attention was drawn to AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader’s post-dialogue comment that they got the explanation of the CEC’s remark.

The CEC said they cordially want BNP to join the next general election. ‘We hope that all the parties, including BNP, will join the election. They’re definitely a big party. We cordially want them to join,’ he said replying to a question.

He, however, said the Election Commission will not take any initiative for political negotiations among political parties over the election-related disputes.

‘We don’t have any will to take the initiative among political parties. The political problems should be resolved politically. We don’t want to take the imitative,’ he added replying to a question.

The next general election will be held as per the constitution and laws. The EC has no scope to create pressure or force the government over the constitutional issues such as formation of supportive government and dissolution of parliament.

Nurul Huda said they will reject if any pressure comes from the election-time government during the polls. ‘We’ve never got any pressure from the governmente. We’ll reject outright if any pressure comes in the future.’

About the dialogue, the CEC said the Commission has got over 400 proposals during the talks held with 45 organisations ---civil society members, media persons, 40 political parties, election observers, women leaders and election experts- since July 31 last.

He said the report on dialogues will be published in a book format, which will be sent to different political parties and the government agencies concerned.

The proposals are being divided into three sections. The first section will contain the constitution-related proposals such as formation of election-supportive government and dissolution of Parliament, while the second section will have law-related proposals like amendment to the Representation of the Peoples Order (RPO) and the delimitation of Constituency Ordinance, and the third section will contain what are needed for the EC to do in election such as decision over the army deployment, proper exercise of laws and preparation of flawless voter list.

The Commission will assess the proposals for taking decisions over these. The EC will take decisions following discussion over implementation of the proposals which are within its jurisdiction, he noted.

In reply to a question whether the EC will propose to bring any legal change for making election credible under the political government, Nurul Huda said there is no need for bringing change in laws as the existing ones are enough. But the laws will have to be enforced. There are provisions for punishing any official in case of violating the laws, he added.

About army deployment, the CEC said the army can be deployed within the existing legal framework. ‘But it cannot be answered right now how they can be deployed,’ he said answering a question.

‘The army can be deployed. We’ll later assess what will be their duties later,’ he added.

Four election commissioners and EC acting secretary were present at the conference.