US Ambassador Patricia Butenis Wednesday said as the present government was sworn in to office under the constitution's caretaker provision, its mandate is clearly to produce good elections without unnecessary delays, reports UNB.
"We strongly support the caretaker government's commitment to promote reforms and to hold free, fair, and credible elections as soon as possible," she said addressing the American Alumni Association at Gulshan Club in the evening.
Butenis observed that voters deserve the right to vote for democratic candidates under democratic conditions, and very few Bangladeshis want to revert to politics as practiced before January 11. "That is very clear."
However, she said, "It is also clear that a government that is seen deny the people their fundamental, sovereign right to pick their leaders and determine their future does so at the risk of its legitimacy and legacy."
Butenis, who leaves Dhaka this month to take up her important assignment in Baghdad, said: "I am disappointed that I am leaving Bangladesh with the ban still in place on all political party activity - a ban which does not seem to apply to some behind-the-scenes activity promoting the concept of a new party."
The US Ambassador noted that there are interesting reform proposals on the table to improve the country's electoral and political process. But "I believe that the engagement and ideally the support of the established parties are essential because, at the end of the day, it is hard to build a viable political process without them."
Butenis iterates holding poll without undue delay
FE Team | Published: June 14, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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