US technical assessment team reaches Bangladesh

A joint team of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) of the United States has reached Bangladesh to conduct a limited technical assessment focused on potential electoral violence conditions before, during, and after the parliamentary elections.

In a press release published on Sunday, the IRI said the five-member technical assessment team reached here last week. They received accreditation from the Election Commission (EC) and will stay in Bangladesh for six to eight weeks.

The technical assessment includes a thematic analysis of different types of election violence, including inter and intra-party violence, violence targeting women and other marginalised groups, and online harassment and threats, as well as the role of state institutions in addressing these types of violence, in order to evaluate the drivers and implications of election violence during the election cycle.

Following the conclusion of the electoral process, the IRI and NDI will present a technical assessment report on electoral violence along with constructive recommendations to reduce violence in future elections.

This deployment follows a joint pre-election assessment mission (PEAM) that NDI and IRI conducted from 8 to 11 October.

The observations from the PEAM informed the structure and scope of the technical assessment, which is being conducted in accordance with the laws of Bangladesh and consistent with the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation, which was endorsed in 2005 at the United Nations.

The IRI and NDI are nonpartisan, nongovernmental organisations that support and strengthen democratic institutions and practices worldwide. The Institutes have collectively observed more than 200 elections in more than 50 countries over the last 30 years.