EU enquires about environment of free and fair elections

The EU election exploratory mission has enquired about the preparations of concerned agencies including the election commission to hold the fair election.

They also wanted to know whether the elections will be free and fair during meetings with the civil society members and human rights activists.

The civil society representatives, who attended the meetings, said this while talking to Prothom Alo.

They emphasized that two major political parties hold opposing views on the formation of an election-time government. In light of this situation, the EU delegation expressed interest in understanding whether all political parties would participate in the election, according to the civil society members.

On Sunday, a six-member EU delegation held separate meetings with civil society representatives and human rights activists at the EU embassy in Dhaka.

National Election Observation Council (NEOC) chairman Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, human rights advocate Adilur Rahman Khan and Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) research director Mahfuz Kabir participated.

When asked about the meeting, Shujan secretary Badiul Alam Mazumder told Prothom Alo that they wanted to know about the election procedure and its credibility, how inclusive the election will be and if the conditions are favourable for ensuring equal opportunities for all. On this point he has told the EU delegation that there are doubts about the fairness and transparency of the election procedure.

Majority of the representatives participating in a separate meeting with the civil society have been involved with election observation for a long time. In this context, the EU delegation sought to know, how’s the scope and extent of work for the Bangladeshi agencies involved with election observation in the next election. For what reasons and under which conditions European Union decided not to send a complete election observation mission in Bangladesh at the last moment back in 2018 was discussed as well.

Mentioning that they discussed about the role of election commission to hold the elections free and fair, speaking to Prothom Alo, Brotee chief executive officer Sharmeen Murshid said, the EU delegation questioned about the people's trust on the credibility of the election commission and enquired about observation."

The EU questioned how far the next election would be inclusive, she added.

Discussants in the meeting said the participation of major political parties is important as well as the participation of voters in the election.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, election observation group JANIPOP chairman Nazmul Kalimullah said, "The current government is in power for three terms. We have discussed what type of government system will be able to play a proper role ahead of the election. We have said if special steps are taken ahead of the election, that will be helpful for holding a fair election."