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

[Black_cats]

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

Staff Correspondent
Published: 21 Sep 2023, 04: 59

European UnionReuters

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.

More to follow...

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 the forthcoming Jatiya Sangsad (national parliament) election

en.prothomalo.com

 

[Black_cats]

EU may sit out January national polls​

Tribune Desk
Publish : 21 Sep 2023, 13:02

The European Union may not send an observer team to the upcoming national parliamentary polls in Bangladesh which is likely to be held in January.

A senior EU official in Dhaka disclosed the information to Dhaka Tribune on Thursday.
He said the decision was taken by the European Union based on the report prepared by their pre-monitoring team.

The EU has already informed the Bangladesh government.

An official statement in this regard may come from the EU headquarters in Brussels within two days.

The EU official did not make further comment in this regard.

A 6-member team of Election Exploratory Mission (ExM) from the European Union (EU) visited Bangladesh from July 8 to 23 at the invitation of the Election Commission (EC).

The delegation mainly assessed the scope, planning, budget, logistics and security aspects of the election observation mission.

The delegation held separate meetings with representatives of the Bangladesh government, the Election Commission, law enforcement agencies, political party leaders, civil society and media representatives.

During the long visit, the delegation of the EU mission tried to understand what kind of qualitative difference has been created from the 2014 and 2018 elections to the next national elections.

Along with that, the EU delegation tried to find out whether the parties would participate in the election process or not.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/amp/bangladesh/foreign-affairs/325914/uncertainty-looms-over-eu-sending-observers-in

 

[Black_cats]

Polls credibility won’t depend on EU’s decision on election mission: Shahriar Alam​

Prothom Alo English Desk
Published: 21 Sep 2023, 13: 16

State minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam speaks to the media at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka on 26 July 2023Tanvir Ahemmed

State minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam on Thursday evening said the European Union’s decision on whether it sends or not its election observation mission will have no impact on the election and credibility of the elections, reports UNB.

Talking to reporters, he said that there is no scope to draw any conclusion through oversimplification of it.

"We have a very deep relationship with the European Union," Shahriar said, adding that the EU has its own challenges.

The State Minister said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not received any communication from the EU as of 6pm on Thursday.

He said the Election Commission will comment if they receive any message.

Whether BNP joins the election or not was reportedly a criteria for the EU to take decision on sending observers.

The European Union will not send its full-fledged election observation team to Bangladesh during the upcoming national election due to ‘budget constraint’, said Election Commission (EC) secretary Md Jahangir Alam on Thursday.

The Election Commission received a letter from the European Union (EU) as a follow-up to the recent visit by the Election Exploratory Mission.

In July this year, the mission from the European Union (EU) had a series of meetings including with the Election Commission and senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The main objective of the Election Exploratory Mission was to assess the “advisability, usefulness and feasibility” of a possible EU Election Observation Mission for the upcoming parliamentary election, according to the EU Mission in Dhaka.

The task of this mission was to assess the scope, planning, budget, logistics and security of the main election observation mission.

The EU delegation met government representatives, election-related authorities, representatives of the international community, officials of various law enforcement agencies, political leaders, civil society and media representatives during their stay in Bangladesh.

Polls credibility won’t depend on EU’s decision on election mission: Shahriar Alam

State minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam on Thursday evening said the European Union’s decision on whether it sends or not its election observation mission will have no impact on the election and credibility of the elections

en.prothomalo.com