Dhaka Bureau: The whole world wants to see the twelfth parliamentary elections of Bangladesh as democratic, acceptable, peaceful, and participatory, said European Union (EU) Ambassador Charles Whiteley.
He made this comment to reporters after the meeting with the Election Commission (EC) on the upcoming twelfth national election on Wednesday (November 29).
Charles Whiteley said that there was a detailed discussion on the parliamentary elections. The Chief Election Commissioner, Kazi Habibul Awal, and his team participated in the open discussion. I have learned about the overall preparation for the election. We expect democratic, acceptable, peaceful, and participatory elections. The whole world wants to see it too.
Ambassadors of seven countries, chief election commissioners, other election commissioners, and senior officials of the EC were present with Whiteley in a two-hour meeting from three in the afternoon. The four members of the EU Election Expert Mission delegation are David Noel Ward (Election Expert), Alexander Mattas (Electoral Analyst), Suibes Charlotte (Electoral Analyst), and Rebecca Cox (Legal Expert).
The EU is not sending a full-fledged observer team to Bangladesh for this election. This decision was made by this alliance of 27 European countries in a letter to the Election Commission on September 20.
In the letter, the EU said that there is no proper environment for elections in Bangladesh. Therefore, they will not send any observers to observe the election in Bangladesh. In that letter, the EU also mentioned the lack of funds to send a full-fledged observer mission to Bangladesh.
