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The 11-party alliance has collected a nomination form for Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Chairman Oli Ahmed to contest the presidential election.
A delegation of the alliance went to the Election Commission on Monday morning and collected the nomination form from the office of the returning officer.
Speaking to journalists afterwards, Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary-General Hamidur Rahman Azad said Oli Ahmed could have emerged as an acceptable candidate to all if the proposed reforms had been implemented.
“That possibility was very promising. But unfortunately, this is a loss for the nation,” he said.
Azad accused the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of adopting a “double standard” and said the country had been deprived of the services of a competent and qualified person because of the party’s position on reforms.
Asked why the Jamaat-led alliance had nominated a candidate when the ruling party’s candidate was expected to win, Azad said victory or defeat was not the main issue.
“We are bringing the democratic process to the forefront,” he said.
Referring to Article 59 of the Constitution, he said the affairs of the state at all levels should be conducted through elected representatives. Although the presidency was not a directly elected representative position in the same sense, he said the president was the head of state and held a position of guardianship over the state.
“If this position is also filled uncontested, then democratic practice is not taking place. We want to restore the democratic process,” Azad said.
He also accused the BNP of failing to implement what he described as the verdict of the referendum and the will of the people.
“The BNP has shown double standards towards the state and the people, and we want to bring that before the nation,” he said. “If the referendum verdict had been implemented, reform of Article 70 of the Constitution would have been included in it.”
Azad said Article 70 currently restricted MPs from exercising their votes independently.
“MPs will not be able to vote independently. Their voting rights have been subject to intervention and control. We wanted to free the nation from this situation and ensure the independence and voting rights of MPs,” he said.
He further said that had the referendum verdict been implemented, the presidential election would have reflected genuine democratic practice.