Seeking PR for the sake of seats will bring instability to national life: Salahuddin

BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed has said that if elections are held using the proportional representation (PR) system solely for political interests or for the sake of getting a few more seats, it will bring terrible consequences for national life.

He made the comment while expressing his views on contemporary political issues at his residence in Gulshan in the capital on Tuesday (September 16).

Salahuddin said, “Election of members of parliament through direct voting is a tested method. Going beyond this, if someone wants the proportional representation system for political interests or for the sake of seats, then it will be dangerous for national life.”

He said that there is no proposal for the PR system in the lower house on the agenda of the consensus commission. But if someone starts a movement for political purposes, the BNP will deal with it politically.

Regarding the demand to ban the Jatiya Party and the 14 parties, the BNP leader said, "The process of banning political parties by executive order will turn into a dangerous practice in the future. If it has to be banned like this, then the 28 parties associated with dictatorship in the past will also have to be banned. Then who will be the winner of the election? This will break national unity and the fallen forces will take advantage."

He emphasized that the BNP is not in favor of banning any political party by executive order. Rather, the proper judicial process should be followed in this regard.

Salahuddin further warned that if fair elections are not held on time, not only national security but also regional security could be threatened.

At that time, he said that the BNP will support the proposal to amend the constitution through the parliament through a legal process. However, the BNP will not encourage any proposal that can create anarchy in the country in the future.

According to him, any problem can be solved at the negotiating table, and that should be the democratic path.