Bangladesh: BNP puts conditional support to limit PM’s tenure to 10 years

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) supports limiting a Prime Minister’s tenure to 10 years but opposes forming a constitutional appointments committee. Most parties agree on the tenure cap, but disagreements persist over committee control, fueling ongoing political tensions

Dhaka: The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has agreed to a proposal to limit the tenure of the Prime Minister of the country to a maximum of 10 years in a lifetime, subject to a certain condition, according to local media reports.

The party opposed the formation of any constitutional committee, including the recently proposed Constitutional and Statutory Institution Appointments Committee, stating that such a move would undermine the authority of the executive. The remarks were made by the BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed following a meeting with the National Consensus Commission at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka.

---

“We are in agreement that a Prime Minister’s tenure should not exceed 10 years in their lifetime. However, we do not support a system where the executive branch is entirely controlled by a constitutional appointments committee,” Bangladeshi leading daily, The Dhaka Tribune, quoted the BNP leader as saying.

Meanwhile, National Consensus Commission Vice Chairman Ali Riaz said the discussions on the Prime Minister’s tenure issue have remained unresolved so far. “We could not reach any consensus or conclusion in this regard. Because the final decision over the PM’s tenure can’t be taken until we can’t reach a final decision over the appointment committee for the constitutional and statutory institutions,” he said, addressing a press briefing.

Riaz also announced that the National Consensus Commission has withdrawn its proposal to form a National Constitutional Council (NCC) and has instead proposed the formation of a ‘Constitutional and Statutory Institution Appointments Committee’, which BNP has opposed.

After discussions on the proposal to form a committee for appointments to constitutional institutions, Riaz proposed to bring the issue of the Prime Minister’s term into discussion. However, BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed said that his party favoured the proposal that a person cannot be the Prime Minister for more than 10 years but does not support the proposed formation of a committee for appointments to any constitutional and statutory institution.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Dhaka, Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General Maulana Rafiqul Islam Khan stated that it does not agree with the condition of the BNP’s condition on the committee. “We have already said that we have not moved from our position, and other political parties have not moved either. Everyone has agreed on this point so far that a person can remain the Prime Minister for a maximum of 10 years.

Other political parties have not agreed on the condition that BNP has added,” Khan stated “BNP is saying that if they agree on this point of a maximum of 10 years, then there will be no such committee or team as the appointment committee of a constitutional and statutory institution. Most parties in the House did not agree on this issue, and everyone, including us, was in the same position as before,” he added.

Reports suggest that on Sunday, during the second round of talks between the National Consensus Commission and 30 political parties at the Foreign Service Academy, all political parties, except the BNP and two others, agreed that the term of the Prime Minister cannot exceed more than 10 years.

The lack of a clear roadmap for reforms and holding elections has fuelled major political unrest in Bangladesh as leaders from several political parties continue to question the Yunus-led interim government’s controversial policies and the poor performance of his dubious advisors.