UK wants peaceful, participatory polls in Bangladesh: Envoy

Staff Reporter :
Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal has said the United Kingdom (UK) wants to see free, fair and participatory elections in Bangladesh.

The CEC said this after a meeting with British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Sarah Cooke at Nirbachan Bhaban in the captial’s Agargaon on Sunday.

Different issues, including the upcoming national elections, were discussed in the meeting, the CEC told reporters.

The CEC said she inquired about the election preparations and expressed optimism for a fair electoral process.

Habibul Awal said we have said that we will focus on transparency.

For this, we would be seeking objective support from the observers and the media.

He said we have clarified our stance on the use motorcycleby newsmen during the polls that there was an apprehension of using motorbikes by musclemen who can interfere the election, but not the reporters.

The CEC said we believe the reporters have a definite contribution to making an election free and credible.

Sarah Cooke, the British high commissioner to Bangladesh, said that her country wanted free, fair, participatory and peaceful elections in Bangladesh as the country would hold the next parliamentary elections in December this year or January next year.

‘We are encouraging free, fair, participatory and peaceful elections in Bangladesh so that people of Bangladesh can exercise their democratic rights,’ Cooke told reporters after meeting.

‘We have discussed the vital role of strong democratic independent institutions, and the role of media and the civil society,’ she said.

Election Commissioner Md Anisur Rahman and EC Secretary Md Jahangir Alam were, among others, present in the meeting.