The European Union will discuss reconstitution of the election commission in Bangladesh at the next joint commission meeting in Brussels in December next as the tenure of the current EC expires in February next year, reports UNB news agency.
“We’ve a history of cooperation between the EU and the election commission in Bangladesh. So, this is very much on top of our agenda,” said Pierre Mayaudon, the EU Ambassador and Head of Delegation to Bangladesh on Monday.
He mentioned about the subcommittee on democracy, governance and human rights issues under which the issue of future election commission will be discussed at the joint commission meeting scheduled for 20 December.
Responding to a question on the next general election in Bangladesh, ambassador Mayaudon said, “[the year] 2019 is still far away but it’s not so much far actually.”
The EU ambassador was responding to queries at DCAB Talk arranged by the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) at a city hotel. DCAB president Angur Nahar Monty and general secretary Pantho Rahman also spoke at the programme.
Mayaudon said cooperation between the EU and Bangladesh is driven by modernity and at the same time by a sense of sharing common values with the people of Bangladesh, namely democracy and human rights as enshrined in Article 1 of the EU-Bangladesh 2001 Cooperation Agreement.
In line with the commitments undertaken by the EU and Bangladesh under the 2001 Cooperation Agreement on Partnership and Development, the 7th EU-Bangladesh Joint Commission was held in Dhaka on 11 November 2015.
The joint commission meeting took place aiming at strengthening partnership in the areas of governance, human rights and migration; trade and economic cooperation; and development cooperation.
The EU refrained from deploying any Election Observation Mission ahead of the last national election boycotted by BNP saying the EU remains nonetheless ready to observe the elections should the political conditions allow for the holding of transparent, inclusive and credible elections.
Source: Prothom Alo