On the invitation of the Election Commission, a six-member election investigation vanguard team of the European Union is coming to Bangladesh today. It is said that the delegation will stay in Bangladesh till July 23 and hold meetings with the government, opposition parties and Election Commission and civil society.
When asked about the reason for the European Union`s visit to Dhaka, international analyst and professor of International Relations Department of Dhaka University Dr. Imtiaz Ahmed said The Report.live, “The European Union is one of Bangladesh`s development partners. Accordingly, they want to see the upcoming parliamentary elections free, impartial and participatory. The European Union last visited Bangladesh in 2008 to observe national elections. The agency also intends to send a delegation to observe the 12th national elections. The investigative vanguard team is coming to Dhaka to discuss whether the environment for observation is in their favor and in this case what the government and election commission can assure them."
Charles Whiteley, the European Union ambassador in Dhaka, had the same approach. He told a media today, "The pre-election observation team will check whether they can come to Bangladesh to observe the election." An invitation from the Election Commission and assurance from the government is definitely needed whether international observers including the EU delegation can come.”
According to several diplomatic sources, the European Union`s pre-election monitoring team`s visit to Dhaka has already started quite a stir in the political arena and diplomatic quarters. The EU ambassador in Dhaka has already held a meeting between BNP and Jatiya Party on the issue of national elections, their participation and election ideas.
Moreover, Charles Whiteley briefed 12 Western ambassadors, high commissioners and representatives of the EU delegation at his residence on Wednesday in the capital.
Today, in the regular weekly meeting, Director General of Public Diplomacy Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Rafiqul Alam, said that the delegation will assess the scope, planning, budget, logistics and security of the main election observation mission.
The briefing also said, “The task of this mission will be to assess the scope, planning, budget, logistics and security of the main election observation mission.” The EU delegation in Dhaka said that they are willing to meet with government representatives, election-related authorities, representatives of the international community, officials of various forces engaged in the responsibility of maintaining law and order, political leaders, civil society and media representatives during the investigation mission`s stay in Bangladesh.
The briefing further informed that the European Union will take the final decision on sending a full-fledged Election Observation Mission (EOM) before the next national elections based on the information received from the fact-finding mission.
In response to a question from the journalists, the director general of the Public Diplomacy Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, Eamon Gilmore, is expected to visit Bangladesh in the last week of July.
During the visit, he will visit the Rohingya camp in Cox`s Bazar and meet with the representatives of various levels of the government on human rights issues, said the foreign ministry official in the briefing.
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