US will send pre-election monitoring team in early October

The United States (US) will be sending a pre-election monitoring team in early October this year, US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas said today.

"The pre-election monitoring team will consist of experts from National Democratic Institute who have vast experience in election monitoring," Haas said while speaking to reporters following his meeting with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KaziHabibul Awal on Tuesday (1 August).

"We discussed the changes in RPO, the registration of political parties, the importance of credible election by sending observers," said the US envoy.

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"The US is only interested in the election which is free, fair, peaceful and people of Bangladesh have the capability to choose who governed them," he added.

Regarding a question about the recent statement of 13 envoys regarding the attack on Ashraful Alom, widely known as Hero Alom, was referred to as a violation of the Vienna Convention by the Bangladesh foreign ministry, the US envoy said, "In the United States, when the countries raise issues with us about our domestic political affairs, we listen to them and we see what we can learn from them. We don't feel it's a violation of the Vienna Convention."

The meeting, which commenced at around 11:15am, was attended by the CEC and four other commissioners. EC Secretary Jahangir Alam has also joined them at the scheduled meeting. The US ambassador reached the EC office around 11:10am.

In a meeting with the CEC on 8 June last year, Peter Haas said that they want a general election through which Bangladeshi citizens can freely choose their leadership.

Reiterating the importance of active participation from various stakeholders in ensuring a democratic and transparent electoral process, he said a fair election is not solely the responsibility of the Election Commission but a collective effort that involves all Bangladeshis.

The CEC on Monday (31 July) said that the 12th national elections could be held by the end of December this year or the beginning of January next year.

The visible diplomatic activities by various diplomats have been ongoing for several months in the lead-up to the elections.

Earlier, a six-member Election Exploratory Mission (ExM) from the European Union (EU) arrived in Bangladesh on 9 July. The EU mission had arrived in Bangladesh to assess the pre-electoral conditions, a hot button issue ahead of the national elections slated for December or January. While they held a flurry of meetings with different government and non-government bodies, the delegation consistently asked about the risk of political violence.

Their first week of the visit also coincided with the two-and-a-half day visit by US Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Uzra Zeya, who met the prime minister and stressed the need for a peaceful democracy.

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