Electoral system choice rests with parties: Shafiqul Alam

Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam has said that the choice of adopting the Proportional Representation (PR) electoral system or maintaining the existing method must be made by the political parties themselves.

"The government should preferably speak less on the matter of the electoral system," he told the presentation of survey results conducted by the research organization 'Innovation' at the Daily Star conference room in Dhaka on Sunday. 

Addressing the findings of the electoral survey, Shafiqul Alam said that the statistics presented demonstrate that the public has trust in the government.

He highlighted the high level of public intent to participate, noting that 95 per cent of people want to vote, which signifies that the upcoming election is destined to be an inclusive election. 

The press secretary said that if everyone turns out to vote, the process is "bound to be good".

The survey, released by Innovation on the same day regarding the upcoming election, included 10,413 respondents. 

According to the survey, a significant majority of respondents, 69.9 per cent, believe that an interim government would be capable of organizing a neutral election. Around 56 per cent of people in the country still do not know about the PR system.

Among those surveyed, the preference for the PR method was evenly divided. 21.8 per cent want the PR system, while 22.2 per cent do not want it.