The UK envoy had said he is disappointed that a full and clear Election Commission probe into the city corporation rigging allegations did not “appear” to have happened.
Robert Gibson was speaking at the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) flagship ‘DCABtalk’ on Thursday at National Press Club.
He said he welcomed the elections at the beginning as there had been no indication of any violence and disruption. “I was quite stuck by how well the elections were running”.
But later, he said, the situation changed, and there has been evidence in social media and press about the disruption and interference of the elections process.
“I hoped given the amount of evidence that was on the social media and in the press about the interference with the election process there would have been a full and clear investigation of those allegations.
“But, that does not appear to have happened. And that I think is a great shame,” he said.
However, he said there had been no legal challenge to the elections and the elections commissions had declared the results.
He wished that the newly elected three mayors would work with a vision as like the London mayors do.
BNP’s parliamentary polls boycott ‘unfortunate’
He spoke on a wide range of issues mostly related to rule of law and justice.
Next week Britain would celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, cornerstone of UK’s constitution and the world’s first bill of rights.
He said it was “unfortunate” that BNP chose not to take part in the last year’s parliamentary election.
“I don’t know whether it is justified or not. We would never know what the outcome would have been if BNP took part in the election,” he said, wishing that BNP would continue to engage in the discussions.
Asked for his comment on Bangladesh’s current state of democracy, he said it was “difficult” to define democracy.
“One size does not fit all,” he said, but he found Bangladeshis love democracies.
He, however, said democracy was not only about elections. “Its an everyday affair,” he said, suggesting that accountability, and making government accountable, and respectful to institutions are some of the basics of democracy.
Parliament is the institution where democracy is preserved, he said.
He once again condemned violence and called upon all political parties and stakeholders to engage in political discussions to ensure that “Bangladesh has a democracy which it deserves”.
On press freedom, he said, “There is a free press in Bangladesh. Its actually the press to guard it (freedom)”.
He said the UK government has six priority areas to protect human rights –freedom of expression, prevention of torture, abolition of the death penalty, freedom of religion of belief, women’s rights, and business and human rights.
He once again called upon Bangladesh to abolish death penalty.
“I do note that it’s very rarely now that death penalty is actually carried out (in Bangladesh). I think one incident this year other than ICT death penalty is imposed,” he said, taking this as an indication that the government was considering to suspend death penalty in future.
Gibson saw “modern authoritarianism” as a new threat.
He said governments around the world that practice ‘modern authoritarianism’ seek to dominate not only the executive and legislative branches, but also the media, the judiciary, civil society, the economy, and the security forces.
“Authorities consider it imperative to ensure favourable electoral outcomes through a certain amount of fraud, gerrymandering, handpicking of election commissions, and other such rigging techniques.
“They give equal or even more importance to control of the information landscape, the marginalization of civil society critics, and effective command of the judiciary,” he said.
“I look to Bangladesh to recognise this and it assists us in our vision,” he said.
Asked, whether he considers Bangladesh’s current situation as modern authoritarianism, he did not make any comment.
He said his role was not to evaluate the government and its institutes. “My role is to encourage the government as part of our partnerships to hold values that we signed up to. We want to work together to hold those values,” he said.
Source: Bd news24
