Final decision on seat-sharing after 4pm: Quader
Quader said AL had reached an agreement with the Jatiya Party, and there was no untoward situation during the meeting between the parties
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said the final decision on seat-sharing and withdrawal of candidacy will come after 4pm today.
During a press briefing at the AL Dhanmondi office today (17 December), he said the Jatiya Party (JaPa) has their own demands.
"Jatiya Party has its own demand, they (JaPa) will be given seats, and there will be no boat candidates vying for those seats," Quader said.
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He said they had reached an agreement with the Jatiya Party, and there was no untoward situation (during the meeting between the parties).
"Candidacy will be finalised by 4pm today."
Awami League will withdraw their nominated candidates from the seats where alliance-nominated candidates will contest, the Awami League leader said.
The discussion between JaPa and the AL regarding the sharing of seats has been going on for several days now.
JaPa is still aiming for more seats. Thus, the discussions are expected to continue.
The AL agreed to allocate 26 seats to JaPa after several meetings, although none of it includes any seats in Dhaka, according to the sources of the two parties.
The sources also said JaPa, a long-standing political ally of the Awami League, initially demanded 50 seats, stating they would not agree to anything less than 35 seats.
Awami League came to power with JaPa back in 1996. Since then, there has been a seat-sharing arrangement between the two parties in every general election.
Although JaPa had initially announced they would contest the elections independently, both parties eventually agreed to distribute seats, continuing their discussions in this regard.
