There is no possibility ofholding fair elections by keeping the incumbent Prime Minister in power, saidformer Advisor to caretaker government Dr Akbar Ali Khan.
"According to the present constitutional arrangement, it isimpossible to hold successful national election if the premier does not quitbefore the polls," he added.
Dr Akbar Ali Khan came up withthe observation while addressing as the chief guest a roundtable discussiontitled "Political Impasse in the Country: The Way Out" held at theNational Press Club in the capital on Saturday.
The discussion was organised byCentre for Strategic and Peace Studies (CSPS) with former secretary to thegovernment and Chairman CSPS Shah Abdul Hannan in the chair. Former stateminister Abul Hasan Choudhury, former secretary SM Johurul Islam, Dr SukomolBarua, Ferdous Akter Wahida, Mostafa Kamal Majumder, Barrister Belayet Hossain,Prof Selina Yeasmin and Beg Gen Anwarul Islam spoke at the function, amongothers.
Dr Tareq Shamsur Rehman,Professor of Jahangirnagar University, presented a keynote paper at theroundtable.
He presented six alternativeproposals for consideration to resolve the political crisis. Dr Akbar Ali Khansaid the upcoming general election is uncertain if the government does notresolve the existing problems.
Mentioning that the problem willarise if the government follows the proposal of the Prime Minister of forminginterim government with the opposition, he said. "Our PM can reject theproposal of 10 ministers at a time as per her constitutional power. So, it isimpossible to arrange fair elections under the partisan prime minister,"he said.
"If the ruling party gets only 10 seats, they will reject thepoll result alleging that there was vote manipulation," he added.
Akbar Ali Khan also said,"No unconstitutional government could stay in power for a long time. So, Iam hopeful that the political parties will reach a satisfactory consensus overthe election row."
He favoured a non-party interimgovernment to hold the next general elections and proposed lottery system tochoose the Chief Advisor of that government.
"The Chief Advisor can beelected a day or two prior to the formation of the new interimgovernment," he said.
"The decision on selectingthe Chief Advisor must be taken at the final stage of formation of thegovernment. A list of 15 people, comprising chief justices and AppellateDivision judges retiring in the last five to 10 years, should be prepared forthe purpose," he added.
The former advisor hoped thecrisis surfacing over the issue of a poll-time government just to hold thenational elections would be solved if the proposal were implemented.
Khan said, "The politicalparties including the two major ones must reach an understanding to ensure afree and fair election".