Election schedule in first week of Nov: EC
EU presses EC for inclusive, transparent polls
STAFF REPORTER
The Election Commission (EC) yesterday said the schedule of the 11th parliamentary poll would be announced in the first week of November. The information was disclosed at an EC briefing after an EU delegation held a meeting with the commission at Election Bhaban in the capital. The European Union (EU) urged the Election Commission (EC) to hold a credible, inclusive and transparent election with the participation of all political parties. The EC said it would present a credible and inclusive election to the nation by doing whatever was possible under the law, said EC officials.
A seven-member EU delegation, led by Rensje Teerink, the EU ambassador to Bangladesh, and the full EC, headed by the chief election commissioner (CEC), were present at the meeting. After the meeting, Rensje Teerink told reporters that they had an interesting talk with the entire commission on what could be expected in the run up to the declaration of the election day.
We talked about the large number of voters in Bangladesh and the holding of the election in a day, which is a big challenge. But, on the other hand, the institution is there. This is not the first time its going to happen. So, the EU looks forward to a credible, inclusive, and transparent election, she said.
In reply to a query on inclusive elections, she said: We hope all parties will participate in the next poll. Itll be a contested election. Everybody will participate and vote. The EU would deploy a two-member electoral expert team that will visit Bangladesh at the end of November. The team will stay here a couple of weeks to observe the process of election and assess the political environment, voter rolls, and poll preparations, she added.
Echoing the EU delegation, EC secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed told reporters that the EU team had urged the EC to hold an inclusive, credible, participatory, free and fair election. The CEC has assured the EU delegation that the EC would present a credible and inclusive election to the nation by doing whatever is possible to do under the jurisdiction of law, he added. The EU also made enquiries about the schedule of the election. The CEC said it would be announced in the first week of November.
Helal Uddin said the EU team also inquired about the use of electronic voting machines (EVM) in the next poll. The CEC said EVMs had been used on a small scale in all the local government elections. EVMs would be introduced in the national elections on a random basis, provided the law permits it, he quoted the CEC as having said.
The EU team also talked about election observers. We told them that we had 119 local observers. Besides, those who desire to be observers from other countries would have to follow the foreign election observer policy. They can observe after obtaining identity cards. We welcome them, he added.
The EC secretary also said that the delegation wanted to know about election manpower and law enforcers. We have told them that we would deploy sufficient manpower and law enforcers at the 40,199 polling stations during the election, he noted. In reply to a query regarding pre- and post-electoral violence, Helal Uddin said: The EU delegation did not talk about it. But they said they had observed some violence in local body polls. We told them that that we had promptly addressed such incidents.
They also asked about the voting system for expatriates. We told them that it was not covered by the current law. But there is a system of postal voting, he added.
