Bangladesh News

The European Commission (EC) has decided to deploy election observers for the December 18 general election, a European Union (EU) announcement in Dhaka yesterday said.

Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, member of the European Parliament, will lead the 150-memebr EU Election Observation Mission (EOM), it said.

The commission made the decision after the government repealed elements of the emergency power rules early this month.

In January last year, the EU had suspended its observation mission after serious political turmoil centring the stalled January 22 polls brought the country to a standstill.

European Commissioner for External Affairs Benita FerreroWaldner wrote to Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed about the commission’s decision on November 17.

The mission’s core team of 10 election experts has already arrived in the country on November 7 to co-ordinate the assessment of the entire election process.

The core team will be joined by 46 long-term observers (LTOs). They will be deployed in two stages to assess the candidate nomination process, the campaign period and pre-election preparations around the country.

The EOM will remain in the country for up to three weeks after the Election Day to observe the post-election period.

Some 88 short-term observers will arrive by mid-December to observe voting, counting and the tabulation of results.

“The Commission, from the very beginning, was committed to re-activate the EOM once acceptable conditions for the conduct of democratic elections were in place,” the announcement quoted Ferrero-Waldner as saying in her letter.

“The European institutions and the Member States have attached great importance to, and have supported, the political and legal reforms in Bangladesh since January 2007 that aimed at setting the right conditions for credible and democratic elections in December 2008.

“Notwithstanding the difficulties that still exist, I now believe that the conditions exist which allow the EU EOM to be redeployed. I encourage both the Caretaker Government and the political parties to make all efforts to ensure this election reflects the will of the Bangladeshi people who always expressed their commitment to democratic government,” she said.

Stefan Frowein, head of the European Commission Delegation to Bangladesh, said the decision to re-deploy the full EOM constitutes a recognition of the impressive progress made by the government, Election Commission and other authorities to create conditions conducive to a free, fair and credible election.

“The EC has sent a signal of its confidence in the preparations for the parliamentary elections and its absolute commitment to scrutinising this critical event in the democratic history of Bangladesh, ” he said, according to the announcement.

“It is now incumbent upon all political stakeholders to discharge their democratic duties in a manner which is mindful of the stability and prosperity of this country,” he added.

The EU has made available some €3.2 million from the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), for the mission.