National Consensus Commission Vice Chairman Professor Ali Riaz today said a bicameral parliamentary system is necessary to ensure representation of the country’s social diversity.

He made the remarks while briefing journalists today at the end of the 13th day of the second-phase dialogue between the commission and political parties, at the Foreign Service Academy’s Doel Hall in the capital.

“To adequately reflect the existing diversity in our society, we need a bicameral parliamentary system. However, consensus is yet to be reached regarding the formation mechanism of the upper house,” said Ali Riaz.

He added that the commission has placed two proposals on the matter, while some additional suggestions have also emerged during discussions with political parties, but further dialogue is necessary to finalize the approach.

Referring to a consensus on reserving 100 seats for women in the National Parliament, the Vice Chairman noted that questions remain regarding the method of implementation. “We are yet to reach a consensus on the procedure,” he added.

He explained that the current system reserves 50 seats for women based on proportional representation, and there are now two proposals under consideration: either doubling that number to 100 using the existing system, or introducing direct elections for the reserved seats. 

As agreement was not reached on either, the commission has proposed an alternative approach, he said, adding that this new proposal involves amending Article 65 of the Constitution to ensure women’s representation differently.

He continued that any political party nominating candidates in more than 25 constituencies must ensure that at least one-third of its candidates are women.

Professor Riaz mentioned that other suggestions have also emerged during the ongoing talks, prompting the commission to continue discussions for reconsideration.

Commission members Justice Md. Emdadul Haque, Dr. Iftekharuzzaman, Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar, Safar Raj Hossain, and Dr. Md. Ayub Miah, and Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant Monir Haider were present.

Representatives from 30 political parties joined today’s session, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, National Citizen Party (NCP), Gono Odhikar Parishad, Gonosanghati Andolon, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Biplobi Workers Party, and Amar Bangladesh (AB) Party.

The commission will resume discussions with political parties tomorrow morning to build consensus on the unresolved issues.