US election observer team due in city on Saturday
Staff Reporter :
A high-profile US joint Pre-Election Assessment Mission (PEAM) is set to arrive in Dhaka on Saturday to assess the environment of the parliamentary election in Bangladesh.
Their purpose is to conduct an unbiased evaluation of the electoral readiness, with the aim of deciding whether they will dispatch observers for the upcoming parliamentary election early next year.
The International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) will deploy the joint Mission to Bangladesh, US Embassy Dhaka said.
The delegation will be comprised six international experts, including Karl F. Inderfurth, Former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs; Bonnie Glick, Former Deputy USAID Administrator; Maria Chin Abdullah, Former Member of the Malaysia House of Representatives; Jamil Jaffer, Former Associate Counsel to the President; Manpreet Singh Anand, NDI Regional Director for Asia-Pacific; and Johanna Kao, IRI Senior Director, Asia-Pacific Division.
During its stay in Dhaka, the PEAM delegation will meet with a diverse range of election stakeholders including the Bangladesh Election Commission, government officials, political party leaders, and civil society organisations.
Following the conclusion of its visit, the PEAM will provide its key findings and practical recommendations ahead of the elections.
Though a similar team from the European Union arrived in Bangladesh in July 8-23, but the EU has declined to send their observers as they have found concerns from the field reports from their Election Exploratory Mission.
Following their refusal, the Election Commission wrote a letter to the EU requesting to send observers, but the EU has not replied yet.
Holding a free and fair parliamentary election has become a crucial issue for the Election Commission amid the political standoff over the election time government, the US visa restriction and the EU’s unwillingness to send observers.
Meanwhile, the US government has been pushing for holding a free and fair election whenever they met with the government including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and even in their regular press briefing in Washington DC.
In order to facilitate the government and the people’s willingness to hold a free, fair, inclusive and credible election, the US has imposed visa restrictions on the Bangladeshi individuals whoever will be involved in manipulating the elections.
However, the government spokespersons are stating that such visa restriction is interference in the internal affairs of the country.
But political parties especially Bangladesh Nationalist Party and political analysts believe that such visa restrictions has created huge pressure on the government.
