The National Citizen Party (NCP) is entering seat-sharing arrangements with Jamaat-e-Islami ahead of the upcoming 13th National Parliamentary Election.
The party’s convener, Nahid Islam, said: “For the implementation of reforms and the sake of broader unity, we have reached an electoral understanding with Jamaat.”
He made the comments at a press conference held after 8pm on Sunday at NCP’s temporary central office located at Bangla Motor in Dhaka.
Nahid Islam said: “The murder of Hadi has shown that hegemonic forces still exist in Bangladesh. The dictatorship we overthrew on August 5 is attempting to sabotage the election. Therefore, for the sake of greater unity, we have reached an electoral understanding with Jamaat.”
He added: “The NCP is continuing its preparations for the election. We initially decided to contest the election independently and later distributed nomination papers. After that, we formed a three-party alliance. However, following the shooting and killing of Sharif Osman Hadi, we realized that there is a plan to hinder the progress of the new Bangladesh and destroy the July generation.”
Nahid further stated: “We felt that to make this election competitive, we needed to hold discussions with Jamaat-e-Islami and like-minded parties. We have reached an electoral understanding with them and will contest the election together.”
Earlier in the evening, at a press conference, Jamaat Ameer Shafiqur Rahman announced that the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the NCP are joining the eight-party electoral alliance led by Jamaat.
