DHAKA, Aug 28: The Election Commission (EC) of Bangladesh announced on Tuesday that it would hold talks with 15 political parties from September 12 on proposed electoral reforms.

The EC hoped that the government would relax restrictions on political activity before that date to enable parties to prepare for the talks.

The commission invited only those political parties which had secured at least one parliamentary seat in general elections after the country’s independence in 1971 or which had polled at least two per cent of the votes cast in the last elections.

The commission plans to complete the dialogue by November 29 this year, while parliamentary polls will be held by December 2008.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) A.T.M. Shamsul Huda said that “the commission believes that the government must create an environment for dialogues either by lifting the ban (on political activities) conditionally or by any other means”.

“The Election Commission is a constitutional body and the government should assist it according to the constitution,” he said.

Asked what the commission would do if the ban was not lifted or relaxed, the CEC said: “The Election Commission will inform the government of its steps and the government, on its part, will certainly take measures to help the commission to implement its plans as the election roadmap has been announced in consultation with the government.”

He said the invitation letters, along with copies of the draft of the proposed reforms, would be sent to 15 political parties within a week. The EC would ask the parties to limit their delegation to five members. The commissioner hoped that the parties would respond to the invitations positively.