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AL 5, BNP 4, JP 1

Polls-time cabinet by vote percentage

Hasan Jahid Tusher
The ruling Awami League wants the cabinet seats of its proposed all-party election-time government to be shared on the basis of percentage of votes the political parties got in the last parliamentary election, not the number of their lawmakers.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina plans to form the interim government with a 10-member cabinet. Of them, five would come from the AL, four from the BNP and one from the Jatiya Party, said AL insiders.
The number of cabinet members might be increased through discussions if the BNP agrees to join it, said the sources.
Election Commission statistics show the AL bagged 49 percent votes, the BNP 33.2 percent votes and HM Ershad's Jatiya Party 7 percent votes in the last national polls.
Hasina recently discussed the issue with some of her close associates after announcing the proposal for an allparty polls-time government, which she finalised without discussing at any party forums, said AL insiders.
The prime minister told her close associates that if the interim cabinet seats are distributed based on the numbers of lawmakers the political parties have in parliament, the BNP would have a very low representation in the polls-time government.
"She wants to have the cabinet seats distributed on the basis of percentage of votes with a view to having a congenial atmosphere and a level playing field for all in the next parliamentary election,” an AL lawmaker told The Daily Star, preferring anonymity.
AL insiders said if the BNP finally agrees to join the all-party polls-time government, its representatives would be given importantportfolios.
The ruling AL seeks to move forward with this plan though the BNP has already rejected Hasina's proposal and come up with a counter offer.
Hasina plans to bring crucial ministries such as the home, LGRD and cooperatives, defence and finance under the Election Commission's jurisdiction to avoid any dispute on whether to keep them under the control of AL or BNP ministers, said the sources.
After holding discussions within the party, AL General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam would soon talk to acting BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, said ruling party insiders.
ITWAS HASINA'S IDEA
Leaders of the AL and its allies in the grand alliance said they had no clue to the contents of the proposal before the prime minister unveiled it in her address to the nation on October 18.
They said she might have consulted with some of her close associates, a few ministers and advisers about it, keeping in the dark most of her cabinet colleagues, members of the AL Central Working Committee and alliance leaders.
"We did not know anything about it. The prime minister might have decided not to discuss it with us, thinking that we would accept any proposal that goes in line with the constitution," Bimal Biswas, politburo member of Workers Party, a key ally of the AL, told The Daily Star.
A JP leader echoed him.
Talking to The Daily Star, three senior AL leaders said they didn't have any clear idea about it but they were told on several occasions that the government would ensure participation of all parties in the upcoming election.