Nezame Islam: Election PR method of ‘foreign agenda’ is anti-Islamic

❐ Staff Reporter

Although several Islamist political parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami and Islamic Andolan, have demanded the use of the proportional representation (PR) system for elections, the Nezami Islam Party, which issued a fatwa calling the PR system un-Islamic, says that many parties have entered the field to implement foreign agendas.

Maulana AKM Ashraful Haque, executive president of the Samprati Bangladesh Nezam-e-Islam Party, said that the seat-based election system is a settled issue. There is no room for reform here.

He said that many of those who have taken to the field to implement a foreign agenda by demanding elections using the so-called PR method will not even have a security deposit if there are fair and impartial elections.

He said, “We can see some Islamic parties among those who are going beyond the conventional election system and demanding a proportional or PR-like election system. However, the PR system of election is an anti-Islamic method. Because Islam has asked the people to elect qualified and good people to run the state. It has not asked them to elect a party or symbol.”

Maulana AKM Ashraful Haque, executive president of Bangladesh Nezam-e-Islam Party, made the remarks in a statement sent to the media on Monday.

Commenting on the demand for PR to rehabilitate the Awami League, he said, “In this method, there is a deep conspiracy to always weaken the government and the state and make it a pawn of foreigners.”

Claiming that the PR system is a foreign-made election system, Ashraful Haque further said that the demand for this innovative system in electoral reform will play a decisive role in rehabilitating fallen fascism. Because in the future, there is no possibility of the autocratic Awami League or any of its allies winning any seat alone in Bangladesh.

But this bizarre electoral system will create a possibility for them to get several seats through the calculation of proportional percentages. Which the people of this country will never accept in the changed situation after the anti-discrimination movement, he said.