by Shamsul Basunia
After the July 2024 uprising, people in Bangladesh expected to have shining days for their lives. But they still don’t have it, even until the writing of this report on November 6th on 2025.
The National Consensus Commission (NCC) was formed to build consensus on the July Charter and the proposed political reforms across the country. The commission recently submitted its report. But the political parties’ positions on the roadmap for implementing the proposed reforms are still unclear. Deep divisions remain among the parties.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has alleged that its dissent or ‘note of dissent’ on the July Charter was not included in the final report of the commission. In addition, the announcement that the next parliament will be formed as a ‘Constitutional Reform Council’ has been made. The party has also alleged that there was no discussion with the commission on this issue.
On October 17 this year, the ‘July Charter’ was presented to the nation in the presence of 22 political parties. It was declared as the beginning of the journey of ‘New Bangladesh’. This is because the NCC had built consensus on most of the reform proposals. However, the student-led National Citizens Party (NCP) and five leftist parties didn’t sign the charter. The NCP said it would not sign any document without a clear roadmap for implementing the charter.
The leftist parties – the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), the Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BSD), the BSD (Marxist), and the Bangladesh JSD – have said that the charter doesn’t reflect the historical heritage of the Liberation War and the fundamental principles of state – nationalism, socialism, democracy, and secularism. They will not sign unless these amendments are made.
The Gono Forum, which played a key role in the movement against Sheikh Hasina’s government, also didn’t sign the charter.
Political divisions
The BNP wants the referendum and the national elections to be held on the same day. But the Jamaat-e-Islami wants the referendum to be held before the national elections. On the other hand, the Awami League, whose activities have been banned and its ally Jatiya Party, were excluded from the consultation process. The NCC, after consulting with a total of 34 political parties, proposed 84 reforms. Against this, 58 dissenting opinions were added. Most of them come from the BNP, the left parties, and Jamaat.
Key points of the July Charter
The charter has kept the Bangladesh declaration of independence intact. However, it contains some reforms that cannot be implemented without amending the constitution. The proposals include – 27 electoral reforms, 23 judicial reforms, 26 administrative reforms, 27 anti-corruption reforms. The important proposals include – the parliament should be bicameral, the powers of the president should be reorganized, the term of the prime minister should be limited to two terms, there should be an obligation not to hold the posts of party chairman and prime minister together and, the independence of the judiciary, police, Anti-Corruption Commission, and Election Commission should be ensured. The charter states that if the next parliament does not pass the charter within 270 days, it will automatically come into effect. BNP has questioned its legitimacy. Only the president has the power to amend the Constitution.
Reintroduction of the caretaker government
The most important aspect of the charter is the reinstatement of the caretaker government system. This government will act as an interim administration during the elections. A five-member committee will be formed to select the chief advisor. The BNP weakened the caretaker system in 2006 by raising the retirement age of the chief justice to qualify for the position. The judge later refused to take office and the BNP made the president the head of the caretaker government, which was extra-judicial. The Awami League later scrapped the system in 2011. This led to three controversial elections. Of these, the BNP only contested in the 2018 elections. Reintroducing a caretaker government has long been a key demand of most parties in Bangladesh. Pakistan also has a similar consultative system, although consensus has been difficult to achieve there.
The main impasse
Two major issues currently hinder political consensus. The first is the timing of the referendum. BNP wants the referendum to be held on the day of the national elections. Jamaat and NCP want it to be held before the elections. The charter will only come into effect if there is a ‘yes’ vote in the referendum. The second issue is the proportional representation (PR) system. Jamaat, other Islamist parties and the NCP believe that this system will increase their representation in parliament. But the BNP wants the first-past-the-post system to remain in place. They believe that the proportional representation system will strengthen smaller parties and increase political instability.
According to the new Representation of the People Order (RPO), each party will have to run for office with its own symbol, which has challenged the traditional political alliance system in Bangladesh.
In a word
The internal divisions within the party have complicated Bangladesh’s democratic transformation. Completely excluding the Awami League also means ignoring the political views of a large section of the country. True, the party was ousted in a popular uprising. But the question remains – will the views of Awami League supporters be ignored in the construction of a ‘new Bangladesh’, or will this once again become a chapter of an ‘unfinished revolution’?
The author:
Shamsul Basunia: Panel Editor, Dhaka Bureau.