Dhaka, July 30 -- Political parties have reached a broad consensus on gradually increasing women's representation in parliament to 33 percent, while a proposal has been placed to enhance the powers of the President, said National Consensus Commission (NCC) Vice Chair Prof Ali Riaz on Wednesday.

"In today's discussion, we saw significant progress on women's representation in parliament. Almost all parties agreed to eventually raise the number of women MPs to 100. Despite a few parties noting their dissent, a functional consensus has been achieved on this issue," he told a press briefing following the 22nd session of the NCC's second-round dialogue with political parties in the city's Foreign Service Academy.

He said the parties reached a...