The ruling Awami League has already announced that it will contest the general election slated for Dec 30 with the Grand Alliance it leads.
The party has almost finalised its candidates and now negotiating with allies over sharing parliamentary seats, which is likely to finish on Thursday (Nov 20).
According to people familiar with the talks, HM Ershad’s Jatiya Party initially wanted 100 seats, which came down 50 and now it’s adamant over 46 seats for its candidates. The Awami League, however, wants to leave a maximum of 36 seats for them.
Hasanul Haq Inu-led Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JaSoD) faction wants six seats for its candidates, just like it was given in 2014. But the Awami League’s offer is three.
“We got six seats in the 2014 election and it’s only natural to expect more this time,” its General Secretary Shirin Akhter MP told Bangla Tribune.
In March 2016, JaSoD suffered a split with two MPs now with the other faction led by Sharif Nurul Ambia.
Responding to a query on it, Akhter said, “That faction (led by Ambia) is not registered with the EC ... So it’s not logical at all to give fewer seats considering how many MPs they have.”
Speaking to Bangla Tribune, Ambia said that they were expecting to get five seats.
“We have two MPs and three other winnable candidates, but the talks (with Awami League) are yet to end,” he told Bangla Tribune.
Rashed Khan Menon-led Workers’ Party of Bangladesh seeks 10 seats for its candidates this time.
“All 10 of the candidates are winnable. We have decided to leave the Narail-2 seat if the Awami League picks national cricketer Mashrafe Bin Mortaza,” said its General Secretary Fazle Hossain Badsha.
He said they have held informal talks over the matter, which is likely to be finalised on Thursday (Nov 22).
The Ganatantri Party seeks five seats, its General Secretary Shahadat Hossain told Bangla Tribune. A source in the party said they expect at least two seats— one in Cumilla and Sunamgaj-4, which it considers as a stronghold.
Communist Kendra led by has sought two seats for its Convener Wazedul Islam and Joint Convener Asit Baran Roy. “We will open talks with them,” Islam told Bangla Tribune.
The Awami League says that it will only allow winnable candidates from allies.
“We expect to finalise seat sharing issue by the week,” Presidium member Mohammad Nasim, who serves as the spokesperson of the 14-party Alliance, told Bangla Tribune.