The National Consensus Commission on Thursday decided as a crucial step in favour of forming a 100-member Upper House of Parliament through the Proportional Representation (PR) system based on the percentage of votes. The announcement was made during the 23rd and final day of the commission’s second phase of reform dialogue with political parties.
Although smaller parties and most of the left-leaning factions supported the move as a global standard, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies expressed dissent on the model. They insisted that seats should reflect lower house election outcomes instead. As tension flared over the decision, commission Vice-Chairman professor Ali Riaz said that a final draft of the reform charter would soon be shared with all parties, followed by a signing ceremony.
This decision marks a major departure from Bangladesh’s winner-takes-all parliamentary system aiming at creating a more inclusive legislative process. The formation of the upper house is likely to bring about a qualitative change in the functioning of our parliament and in our political debates, according to experts.
This decision marks a major
departure from Bangladesh’s
winner-takes-all parliamentary
system aiming at creating a more
inclusive legislative process.
The BNP and some other parties expressed dissenting views in the idea of forming an upper house through PR based on share of votes secured by the parties. The BNP gave a note of dissent, but it did not withdraw from discussions on the proposed upper house. It was a mature concession on the part of the BNP and it deserves our appreciation and accolade.
Despite the discord, the commission pushed forward with additional proposals, including limiting the legislative powers of the upper house. While it would review and comment on bills, it would not be able to permanently block legislation. If the upper house fails to respond within a month, a bill will be considered approved. If rejected, the bill would return to the lower house with recommendations, but the latter retains final authority. Professor Ali Riaz assured the parties that the final charter draft would be shared soon along with a full list of consensus points and dissenting positions.
As the matter could not be settled even after lengthy discussions, the matter of the upper house formation was entrusted to the commission on the score of split in opinion among the parties. And the commission announced the decision the decision on Thursday. We hail the commission for its tireless efforts to manage the whole dialogue process.
