Reform rift prompts July Charter draft revision

Banglapress Published: 23 September 2025, 10:25 AM

Reform rift prompts July Charter draft revision

Bangla Press Desk: Amid strong opposition from several political parties, the National Consensus Commission (NCC) has decided to revise the draft of the “July National Charter 2025”. The revised draft will be placed today. The commission, however, also wants to finalise the charter today through finalising decisions on several key reform issues. NCC vice-chairman Professor Dr Ali Riaz on Wednesday said that a revised draft of the July Charter will be handed over to the political parties participating in the reform talks on Thursday. “We will also deliver a list of the issues on which we have reached consensus till now. The political parties will also be informed of the final decisions on some reform issues. We hope that we will be able to hand over a comprehensive and universally acceptable draft charter,” he said on the 22nd day of the second phase of reform talks held at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital.

Jamaat-e-Islami, National Citizen Party (NCP) and some other parties reacted strongly and expressed dissatisfaction after the preliminary draft of the July Charter was placed by the NCC on Monday. The parties demanded a revised draft and called for it to be made mandatory under the legal framework before the next general elections. Jamaat’s senior leader Dr Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher, who is leading his party delegation in the reform talks, on Wednesday repeatedly said that the reform proposals would not be implementable unless there is a legal basis. “We will not sign the July Charter if it is not implementable, and if it does not have a legal basis,” he told the session on 22nd day. On the other hand, NCP Member-Secretary Akhtar Hossain during a break of the reform talks told the media that they don’t want an ineffective, incomplete and reform-free July Charter, which will remain just a historical document, like the past outlines of the three parties.

“We want a vibrant July Charter that will contain comprehensive reforms, have a legal basis, and be immediately implementable. We will not sign any charter without fundamental reforms and guarantees of legal basis,” said the NCP leader. The draft July Charter says that the issues where political consensus has already been reached will be implemented within two years of the next general elections. The NCC in Tuesday’s session placed a revised proposal over reserved women seats in the Parliament. The commission proposed 7% direct nomination of women candidates from general constituencies, while retaining the existing 50 reserved seats. Previously, the Constitution Reform Commission had proposed direct elections for 100 women in the reserved seats. Some left-leaning parties had supported the direct elections for 100 reserved seats, while some Islamic parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami, advocated for proportional representation in the 100 seats. Meanwhile, the BNP and some other parties proposed retaining the current system for the 100 reserved seats.

In response to the differing views, the NCC presented the revised proposal. However, the latest proposal of the NCC outlines a step-by-step plan to gradually raise women’s representation in parliament to 100 directly elected seats. According to the proposal, following the signing of the July Charter, every political party will be required to nominate women in 7% of general constituencies in the upcoming general elections, in addition to retaining the 50 reserved seats through necessary amendments to Article 65(3) of the Constitution. In the 14th national elections, each party must nominate women in 15% of general seats, with the percentage to increase by 5% in each subsequent election. By the 15th parliamentary elections, political parties will nominate a sufficient number of women to ensure that 100 women are directly elected to parliament. Wednesday’s discussions focus on several other important reform issues, including the powers and responsibilities of the president, the presidential election process, the upper house formation and election process of its members, expansion of basic rights of the citizens, the fundamental principles of the state, and appointment process of Public Service Commission (PSC), the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, and the Office of the Ombudsman. “Amendments and additions have been shared with you. If you have any objections or suggestions for changes, please make sure to send them to us by tomorrow (Thursday) morning,” said Ali Riaz.

Some 30 political parties, including the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, NCP, Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB), AB Party, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Gono Odhikar Parishad, Gono Forum, Khelafat Majlis, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BSD), Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), Ganosanghati Andolon and CPB, joined the talks. This article was originally published on Daily Sun.

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[Bangla Press is a global platform for free thought. It provides impartial news, analysis, and commentary for independent-minded individuals. Our goal is to bring about positive change, which is more important today than ever before.]