EU will not send a full-fledged observation team to the coming election

The European Union will not be sending a full-fledged observation team to observe the forthcoming Jatiya Sangsad (national parliament) election.

The European Union took this decision based on the recommendations of the pre-election observation team that recently visited Dhaka.

A letter was sent to the Election Commission (EC) and the government yesterday, Wednesday (20 September), informing them of this decision taken by the European Union's Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Several sources aware of the letter confirmed the matter to Prothom Alo.

In the letter sent to the election commission and the government, it was said that Josep Borrell has taken the decision not to send a full-fledged observation team to observe the forthcoming election in Bangladesh due to shortage of EU funds for election observation in 2023-24.

The EU letter also stated that it is not adequately clear enough at the moment as to whether all the required criteria will be met during the national election in Bangladesh. Despite this decision, the letter added, the EU is looking into other alternative to remain with the election process.

On behalf of the EU, the letter said that they will encourage all sorts of efforts to ensure that the election in Bangladesh is free, fair, peaceful and inclusive.

The EU pre-election observation team visited Bangladesh in July to observe the environment for the national election in the country as well as pre-election political situation. They met with the election commission and other stakeholders during their Bangladesh visit.

During the pre-election observation team's Dhaka visit, it was said that based on their report, the final decision whether the EU would send a full-fledged observation team to Bangladesh would made known in September. The EU has now made the decision known that they will not be sending a full-fledged observation team to the forthcoming national parliament election in Bangladesh.