Two things become confirmed after any parliamentary elections. One is which party to form government, and other is which party to become opposition in the parliament. According to the majority of seats these two things are determined. However, the situation is different now. There’s no doubt about the formation of government as the Awami League has got the absolute majority. Nevertheless, the matter of opposition isn’t cleared yet and many debates and discussions are going on over this matter.
According to the authorities concerned, the party gets at least 151 seats among 300s can form the government. Hence, AL is going to form it as they have won 222 seats. But, the question is who will be the opposition. According to the experts, there’s no clear concept in the constitution of the country or in work-procedures of the parliament regarding the formation of opposition, neither is clear statement about the minimum number of seats required to become opposition.
Former law minister barrister Shafique Ahmed told the Bangladesh Pratidin, “The parliament will decide who will be the opposition. The rests other than the government party can show their interest to become the opposition. There’s no steadfast rule regarding the minimum required seats to become the opposition. The number of seats hasn’t any importance for becoming opposition. So, the decision regarding opposition won’t create any crisis in the politics.”
A review of the results of the 12th National Election held on January 7 shows that out of 300 constituencies, the election of one seat was postponed due to the death of a candidate and the result of another seat was postponed due to disturbances in votng process. Out of the remaining 298 seats, the ruling Awami League got 222 seats. As a result, the President will invite the Awami League to form the government as per the constitution. Jatiya Party is the second political party in terms of seats. The party's candidates were elected in 11 seats. In addition, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-Jasad, Bangladesh Kalyan Party, Bangladesh Workers Party won one seat. 62 candidates were elected as independents. Due to the large number of MPs being elected as independents, the question has arisen as to who will be the opposition party. There is also speculation about whether they will form a new alliance or not.
In response to the question of who will be the opposition party in the parliament, Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said that the Leader of the House i.e. the one who will be the Prime Minister, will decide what to do in this regard after understanding and analyzing the situation.
If the Jatiya Party is not the opposition party: Political analysts say that if the Jatiya Party does not get the opportunity to be in the role of the opposition party, then there are alternatives. In that case, independent candidates can join the opposition party with a party that gets minimum number of seats like Jasad, Kalyan Party or Workers Party. In this situation, the leader of the party with which the alliance will be made can be the leader of the opposition party. In this case, the Jatiya Party should refuse to be in the opposition party. Or any party/alliance made up of independents should have more seats than Jatiya PArty. If that is the case, the party/allaince formed on the basis of the number of seats can express its interest to be the opposition party in the Parliament. However, as most of the candidates elected as independents are associated with the main stream of Awami League, there are also questions about whether this alternative opposition party will actually take step to do or not.
(The report was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on January 9 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque Khan)
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