Bangladesh responds to ‘disheartening’ US statement on election monitoring team

Bangladesh is “disheartened” by the US State Department’s statement concerning observers for its upcoming general election, the foreign ministry has said.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 23 Dec 2018, 12:01 PM
Updated : 23 Dec 2018, 12:22 PM

In a statement issued on Sunday, the ministry said, “as one of the largest democracies in the world and mutually respectful to others, Bangladesh would “expect and welcome constructive statements towards its democratic process from its friends and partners.”

The US State Department has recently expressed disappointment over the Bangladesh government’s “inability to grant credentials and issue visas” to a particular group of election observers for the Dec 30 election.

In a statement, the US State Department said they are disappointed that the approvals were not provided “within the timeframe necessary to conduct a credible international monitoring mission to the majority of international election monitors from the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), which the United States funded through the National Democratic Institute.”

As a result, ANFREL was forced to cancel its observation mission for the 11th national election, said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino on Saturday.

The US statement also called for ensuring space for peaceful expression and assembly in the lead up to the elections.

In response, the foreign ministry said that it welcomes international observers, but also bears the responsibility of ensuring that the applicants meet the required criterion as per the laws and guidelines of the Election Commission.

“As of now, 175 foreign election observers from different countries and organisations have been accredited to undertake election monitoring missions in Bangladesh.

“Accreditation of international election observers from a number of organisations including the ANFREL is currently under process.

“In addition, the Election Commission has registered 118 local organisations and also approved 25,920 local observers to monitor the polls.

“In this context, the decision of ANFREL to cancel its observation mission is entirely their own despite the fact that, nearly half of its applicants have already been approved and the rest are under process.”

The foreign ministry statement reiterated that Bangladesh would continue to grant credentials to eligible international and local observers to observe the election.

The foreign ministry also said ‘Odhikar’, a Bangladeshi NGO, is the founding member of ANFREL.

“‘Odhikar’ is widely known for its disproportionate bias and prejudice against Bangladesh, in particular the government of Awami League, which is evident in its various reports including the recent ones published in October and December 2018.”

“Besides, one of the top-ranking Bangladesh members of ‘Odhikar’ was earlier appointed by the BNP-Jamaat Government as the Deputy Attorney General, which provides ground for disqualification of his organisation and related entities as independent and neutral observer of the national elections,” read the statement.

The foreign ministry also cites the Election Commission law, more specifically Section 91 (C) (1) of the Representation of the People Order 1972.

It says the Election Commission may “permit a person as election observer who is in no way associated with or affiliated to any political party or contesting candidate and who is not known for his sympathy, direct or indirect, for any particular political ideology, creed or cause or for any manifesto, program, aims or objects of any political party or contesting candidate”.

All registered political parties are participating in the elections conducted by the Bangladesh Election Commission.