EC plans strict guideline for local election observation groups

The Election Commission is working on a draft guideline for local polls observation groups to further streamline them for greater transparency.
In the draft guideline, the EC has tightened some rules and made registration of the interested groups mandatory with the commission.
The EC has already sent the draft guideline to all political parties and observation groups and asked them to place their feedback in writing by September 25.
The commission is interested to finalise the guideline by October.
The EC held a meeting with development partners and election monitoring groups on September 11 about the rough outline of the guideline.
The meeting, chaired by Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda, decided that there shall be different guidelines for domestic and foreign election observers, and the observation groups must be registered with the commission for accreditation.
The accreditation will remain valid for one year, the meeting decided.
About the procedures for accreditation, the draft guideline reads that the polls observation groups shall assemble and submit their application attaching all required information along with profiles of all observers to the commission within the time specified in the public notice issued on its behalf.
“The commission shall scrutinise all applications with reference to the criteria set in the guidelines and notify its decision to grant or deny accreditation submitted by an observer organisation if its chief executive or a member of its board of directors or a member of its management committees is a candidate or an activist for any candidate or political party that is seeking public office in an election during the period for which accreditation is being sought,” it reads.
According to the draft copy, the commission shall issue a certificate of accreditation to the accredited observer organisations no later than seven days following the decision to grant approval.
It mentioned that each organisation's accreditation shall be valid for one year from its date of issuance unless revoked earlier.
“During the validity of accreditation, the observer organisation may propose replacement of individual observers by furnishing their profiles in the prescribed forms,” it further reads.
The guideline says the commission may revoke an accreditation granted to an observer organisation upon credible evidence that the observer organisation has violated any provision of the code of conduct.
“Prior to revoking accreditation, the commission shall provide the observer organisation with advance written notice of the alleged violation including its factual basis,” it says.
An accredited observer organisation shall be responsible for the selection, training and development of individual observers, monitoring their performance and preparing report on observation findings for submission to the commission, the draft says.
About the qualification of the individual observers, the guideline notes that an individual must be a citizen of Bangladesh with at least 25 years of age. “He/She must have SSC or equivalent level of education and must be nominated by an accredited observer organisation,” it says.
About the deployment of election observers, the draft guideline mentions that not more than two observer organisations shall be permitted access in an upazila/ metropolitan thana or a constituency to field stationary observers unless otherwise authorised by the commission.
“Each authorised organisation shall be allowed to field a minimum of one observer per polling station and maximum of one observer per polling booth,” it says, adding that one from amongst them would be allowed access to the ballot counting room and one observer at the office of the returning officer during the consolidation of results.
In addition, each authorised organisation will be allowed to operate two mobile teams during the polling hours consisting of five members each, the guideline says.
The observer organisation shall maintain a list of all of its authorised observers by upazila/metropolitan thana or constituency.
“It shall inform the presiding officers of the polling stations and returning officers well ahead of time as to who are its designated observers respectively for counting and consolidation of result,” it says.
The guideline says that the returning officer shall make the list available for inspection by the contesting candidates.
“If any objection is raised by any such candidate about the neutrality of any observer, the returning officer shall inform the observation organisation about such objection with a request for suitable replacement,” it says.
The commission is the sole authority to issue observer identification cards. Observers shall at all times during observation of the electoral process prominently display their observer identification cards.
While conducting an observation, observers shall at all times respect the rights of voters and the need for commission officials to efficiently and effectively administer the election.
“Observers shall not interfere with the electoral process and may be assigned seating within the polling station provided their observation of electoral process is not thereby impeded.”
The guideline reads that the observer organisations shall prepare report on the basis of their own guidelines and criteria. The commission does not want to interfere in this process for the sake of maintaining the objectivity and neutrality of election observation.
However, to assist the commission in pursuit of capacity building and institutionalisation for better election management, each observer organisation is required to file the following reports to the commission.