Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) on Sunday registered its doubts regarding the integrity of the general elections of Bangladesh, especially with the reports on civil society restrictions and arrest of numerous opposition members.
ANFREL expressed its doubts a day after it conveyed its decision not to send any observer mission for the general elections of Bangladesh slated for December 30.
"With the absence of foreign monitoring organisations, the very important task of documenting and assessing the conduct of elections falls solely on the shoulders of domestic organisations. These are organisations operating in an extremely repressive political environment that is not conducive to free civil society activities," said a statement issued by ANFREL.
It added: "Placing hurdles for observers to access information, restricting their movement and hindering them from performing their mandate to promote democratic practices calls into question the sincerity of the Bangladesh authorities to hold transparent elections."
Earlier on Saturday, the US government which had decided to fund the ANFREL observer mission expressed disappointment over the Bangladesh government's failure to issue visa to ANFREL observers in due time.
ANFREL has expressed dismay with the manner in which the Bangladesh authorities have handled the accreditation application process for domestic and international election observers in Bangladesh's 11th general elections.
While the Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC) has taken initiatives to welcome intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations such as ANFREL and several domestic monitoring groups either faced significant delays in their accreditation or were barred altogether from monitoring the upcoming elections.
Narrating the context for its withdrawal, the statement said due to significant delays in the accreditation approval by the BEC and visa approval by the MoFA, ANFREL was forced to terminate its observation mission in Bangladesh on December 22.
ANFREL formally requested accreditation for the elections as early as November 04, 2018 and submitted all necessary accreditation requirements to the BEC by November 26, 2018.
Together with the EC, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) also took part in the assessment of accreditation applications.
"As of December 21, 2018, a mere nine days before the elections, ANFREL was granted accreditation for only 13 of its observers out of the 32 applications it submitted. We regret that this situation hindered us from directly working with the Bangladesh election stakeholders, which ANFREL has been looking forward to."
The statement also said ANFREL is among the endorsers of the Declaration of Principles and Code of Conduct for International Election Observers (DOP).
DOP endorsers are expected to uphold and advocate the principles of total impartiality, independence, and freedom of movement and full access to information, in all stages of the elections.
With ANFREL's withdrawal, no DOP-endorsing organisations will monitor the upcoming elections in Bangladesh.
ANFREL also was concerned with the high number of domestic election observers that had not received accreditation. It was reported that there are only 34,838 observers who have expressed interest to participate as of December 19.
An EC official relayed that of the total, only around 26,000 observers will be granted accreditations.
The 2018 elections mark the second lowest number of observers in two decades, just behind 2014 elections where only 8,878 domestic observers and four foreign observers participated, the statement added.
In comparison, there were around 159,000 observers for the 2008 elections and 218,000 in 2001. All election stakeholders should, therefore, endeavour to encourage participation of observers in future elections.
"Unfortunately, other member organisations of the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors (GNDEM) also have been denied accreditation by the EC due to allegations of partisanship or their association with human rights groups and independent election monitoring networks."
ANFREL urged the Bangladesh government and the BEC to enforce the rule of law impartially and ensure the safety and security of all electoral stakeholders.
Meanwhile, Canada in a separate statement have urged all involved in the electoral process to work together in fostering a peaceful campaign environment, enabling the people of Bangladesh to participate safely in free, fair, inclusive and credible elections.
"Canada stands by the people of Bangladesh and supports all voters in the full exercise of their democratic rights and freedoms in the context of the national elections on December 30," said the statement issued on Sunday.
Terming peace and security as the cornerstones of democracy, it said acts of violence and intimidation undermine the legitimacy of the democratic process.
"The pre-election campaign should be carried out in a calm and responsible manner by all concerned."
This includes protection of the political and electoral rights of minority and other vulnerable groups and ensuring free space for civil society, it added.
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