Head of the European Union (EU) delegation to Bangladesh William Hanna on Sunday said they are happy to see a larger participation, both by political parties and voters, in the Upazila Parishad elections, and encouraged parties to take part in future elections, too.
“…we’re happy to see the local elections…there has been a lot of participation by different parties. We think this is a positive sign,” he told reporters at the Secretariat after a meeting with Law Minister Anisul Haq.
The EU envoy, who led a three-member delegation to the meeting, said they want to encourage political parties to participate in (future) elections instead of boycott.
Hanna said they had a very useful and positive discussion on human rights issues with the minister.
He said they had discussions on three specific issues — space for civil society, EU’s position against death penalty and reports on extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh– at the meeting. “We mentioned our concern about reports on extrajudicial killings.”
Hanna said the issue of HR is very important in Bangladesh-EU relation which is in the first article in the agreement on supporting democracy. “So, we discussed those three issues…very positive and open discussion.”
Asked whether the EU proposes any timeframe for next national election, the envoy said, “No, we didn’t.”
France Ambassador Michel Trinquier and Sweden Ambassador Anneli Lindahl Kenny were also present.
Source: UNBConnect
