Free, fair, inclusive elections were focus of discussion: CEC

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal has said that the visiting US -re-election assessment team had asked the Election Commission (EC) about the election process in Bangladesh. The main focus of the discussions between the US team and EC was free, fair, inclusive and peaceful elections.

The US pre-election assessment team met with the EC Tuesday morning at the Nirbachan Bhaban in Agargaon of the capital. The CEC later apprised newspersons about details of the meeting. But no member of the US team spoke to the media.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Kazi Habibul Awal said the US team wanted to know about the EC's work and responsibilities. He said that they explained to the US team how the EC functioned, how it coordinated its work with the government and other details.

The CEC said, the US team may return to their country and decide whether or not they would send an observation team to the forthcoming national election or not.

The US team arrived in Dhaka on Saturday to carry out an assessment regarding whether they would send a full-fledged observation mission to observe the Bangladesh national election. The US team comprises persons from the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI).

On Monday, the third day of the visit, the US team met with various political parties one after the other, including Awami League and BNP. In their discussions with the US team, Awami League and BNP maintained rigid stances, contradictory to each other.

A pre-election assessment team of the European Union (EU) visited Bangladesh in July this year to assess the election environment and political situation in the country before the national parliament polls. Based on their recommendations, the EU has decided not to send a full-fledged election observation mission to Bangladesh to observe the next national parliament election.