Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus has laid emphasis on creating a mechanism so that everybody in Bangladesh can vote "freely and fairly" without any "interruption or threat" to anybody while exercising their democratic rights.
During a one-to-one conversation with World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab, 84-year-old economist and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Yunus said all the young people who became voters over the last 16 years did not have a chance to vote which is very unfortunate.
Unless they know what kind of election the people of the country want, the Chief Adviser said they can not go into election.
He said they are waiting to hold election and now people have to decide the process - whether they will go for the short agenda or the long agenda.
Dr Yunus said they have targeted the end of this year for the election to take place if people go for a quick reform agenda.
"If people say, no - we need a longer list of reforms, then we need another six months," he said.
Dr Yunus described the reforms the interim government is undertaking to prepare the country of 171 million people for free and fair elections, possibly as soon as the end of 2025.
Reflecting on the role of the students, he said technology has changed them - they are not Bangladeshi young people anymore, they are global young people.
"We define that new Bangladesh and we are committed to creating that new Bangladesh," said the Chief Adviser.
He said the demands from the movement came that they do not want to go back to the old Bangladesh, so they have to make a new Bangladesh.
Dr Yunus said they do not want to go back to that kind of tradition of elections without votes.
Source: UNB
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
