Following the European Union’s (EU’s) suit, the Commonwealth has also decided not to send observers to Bangladesh to monitor the January-5 national election.
Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma in a letter to the Election Commission on Sunday conveyed the message, an EC official told UNB wishing anonymity.
According to the official, the Commonwealth informed the Commission that they are not sending election observers to monitor the national election as most political parties are not joining it.
On December 2, the Election Commission requested the Commonwealth Secretary General to send its election observers to Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, the EU on Friday decided to halt ‘for now’ the preparations for the deployment of an Election Observation Mission in Bangladesh as main political parties here could not create the necessary conditions for transparent, inclusive and credible elections.
The Commonwealth usually refrains from sending its observers to any country to monitor elections if the EU does so.
On December 4, head of Democracy Section of the Commonwealth Martin Kasirye, after a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad at the latter’s office in the city, said they will decide considering the evolving political developments in Bangladesh whether it will send election observers to monitor the 10th parliamentary polls here.
“The mission is here to see what is going on the ground…the Commonwealth secretary general will take a decision in this regard weighing the evolving situation,” he told reporters.
On November 25, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad announced that the 10th general election will be held on January 5, a schedule turned down by the BNP-led 18-party alliance.
As per the current election schedule, there is no scope for the main opposition BNP to join the 10th Parliamentary Election.
The opposition alliance has been on nonstop agitation programmes since the announcement of the polls schedule, demanding the arrangement of the election under a non-party administration and cancellation of the schedule.
The 18-party has already enforced more that 454 hours of road-rail-waterway blockade across the country in five spells –71-hour, 131-hour, 144-hour, 72-hour and current 83-hour ones — after the announcement of the election schedule, that left at least 78 people dead.
Source: UNBConnect