Ensure free, fair election with participation of all
The European Commission (EC) has termed the state of emergency in Bangladesh a problematic point and urged the government to improve certain things to guarantee freedom of the voters and free and fair election with participation of all.
The EC's latest position was conveyed by EC Head of the Delegation Ambassador Stefan Frowein to Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury at the foreign ministry yesterday.
After nearly an hour-long meeting, Frowein told reporters that he conveyed to the adviser some points of the EU exploratory mission's report on election observation in the country.
The exploratory mission had come to Dhaka in June, held wide range of discussions with major stakeholders and submitted its report to EC External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
The EC envoy said, “It's an internal report but I should say still there are few things where improvement should be done to guarantee the freedom of voters and freedom that is necessary for free and fair elections.”
There are rooms where improvement has to be done and the decision on sending EU election observation mission to Bangladesh would be taken at the end of September or beginning of October, he added.
Asked whether the EC would like to see lifting of the state of emergency, Frowein said, “The state of emergency is a problematic point. Some people say it has to be lifted and some say it has to be relaxed.”
The envoy said, “I can say clearly that we do not normally observe elections under the state of emergency. We normally don't do that.”
He further said the foreign adviser will have a meeting with EC Commissioner Benita Ferrero on September 22 in New York when they will discuss the matter in details.
“This will be an important meeting following which the EC will decide the question of fielding an observer mission for the elections”, Forwein said.
Iftekhar told reporters that although EU does not normally send its election observation mission to a country under the emergency but the Bangladesh situation is unique. “Our main challenge is to ensure each voter to cast his/her vote freely without any impediment”.
Mentioning recent remarks of the chief adviser, he said the emergency rules would be relaxed as much as possible to ensure free and fair elections.
The adviser said completion of voter list with photos and ID cards has earned acclamation from all and Bangladesh “could be put in the Guinness Book of World Records for this”.
He hoped that friendly countries would come to Bangladesh to observe the general elections in December.
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