A reform commission appointed by Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, has proposed splitting the unicameral legislature into an upper and lower house.
DHAKA — Bangladesh should limit future leaders to a maximum of two terms, slap restrictions on police use of force and create separate houses of parliament to divide lawmaking powers.
Those are among the recommendations from a reform panel tasked with overhauling the troubled country’s key institutions in the wake of a bloody uprising last summer that ousted then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
A caretaker government led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus appointed six commissions after Hasina’s exit to propose changes for the South Asian nation’s electoral and constitutional systems, police, judiciary and anti-corruption agency.
Several of those commissions submitted their reports on Wednesday as Bangladesh gears up for elections that Yunus has said could happen by the end of 2025, although some opposition parties are calling for earlier polls.
Hasina, who fled to neighboring India as unrest paralyzed the country, had been in power since 2009 and was elected to a fresh term early last year after elections widely dismissed as rigged in favor of her ruling Awami League party.
The 77-year-old, who also served one term starting in the mid-1990s, was the world’s longest-serving female leader. Facing a raft of charges in Bangladesh, Hasina has been accused of running an iron-fisted regime characterized by extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances and massive corruption.
“These commissions are important,” Hasanuzzaman Choudhury, a professor of political science at the University of Dhaka, told Nikkei Asia. “People expect reforms in the constitution, foreign policy, governance and the electoral system. These commissions are dismantling a long-standing fascist framework and reconstructing the nation.”
Apart from term limits and more power-sharing between the prime minister and largely ceremonial president, the reform proposals also call for Bangladesh’s 350-member unicameral legislature to be replaced by a 400-seat lower house and 105-member upper house of parliament with proportional representation for parties. The constitutional commission called for 100 lower-house seats to be reserved for women — double the number in the current legislature.
A mooted National Constitutional Council, comprising the prime minister, president and opposition leaders, would oversee appointments to the election commission and other key agencies.
The country’s election agency should have the power to postpone national elections if they appear to be tainted by fraud or manipulation, and should itself be subject to more stringent rules and accountability, the electoral reform commission said.
It also proposed barring political parties from maintaining teacher, student or labor wings, and abolishing foreign branches of Bangladeshi political parties. Hasina’s Awami League had a powerful student wing that was accused of taking part in deadly violence against protesters last summer.
“This is easier said [than done], but we have to do this,” commission head Badiul Alam Majumdar said of the changes.
The police commission outlined a five-step plan for the use of force in dispersing crowds, designed in accordance with United Nations Peacekeeping principles. More than 800 people were killed in last summer’s protests with police and security services facing allegations that they fired live rounds at demonstrators
The interim government said it plans to start talks next month with political parties about the recommendations, which also include scrapping a rule that protects the prime minister from no-confidence motions.
But the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) expressed reservations over making it easier to boot leaders from power.
“MPs should have the freedom to express their opinions on all matters, regardless of party affiliation, except impeachment, the budget and national security,” Salahuddin Ahmed, a senior BNP politician, told Nikkei. “While anyone can propose alternatives, a consensus among political parties is essential,” he added.
source : asia.nikkei