DHAKA: Bangladesh’s interim govt favours lowering age eligibility for voters to 17 before the next general election to get more young people interested in policy and nation-building, chief adviser Muhammad Yunus suggested Friday in what is seen as a doff off the hat to the student-led uprising against ousted PM Sheikh Hasina. The voting age is currently 18 years.
In line with Yunus’ proposal, the constitutional reform commission is believed to be also considering reducing the age limit to become an MP to 21 years. The minimum age is currently 25. “Young people are interested in the future of the country. To get their opinion on their own future, I think the minimum voting age should be fixed at 17,” Yunus said during a national dialogue on the importance of unity, reform and elections in Bangladesh’s new journey.
Prof Ali Riaz, who heads the constitutional reform commission, confirmed that the panel was contemplating a radical change that would make it possible for a 21-year-old to become an MP. Riaz said the commission would request political parties to nominate young people to either one-fourth or one-third of the seats they contest.
At the national dialogue, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the party had been pushing for elections at the earliest as “it is the main gateway to democracy”. BNP’s senior joint secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged at another event Thursday that a state intelligence agency was working to establish a “king’s party” in the country.