Project withdrawal shows govt lost donors\\\' trust: BNP

FE Team | Published: July 05, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

BNP claimed on Saturday that foreign donors had expressed their no-confidence in the present government's election management by withdrawing funds for an Election Commission (EC) project, reports UNB.
Addressing a press briefing at the party's Nayapaltan central office, BNP spokesman Asaduzzaman Ripon urged the Chief Election Commissioner and four other commissioners to quit shouldering the responsibility for denting the Commission's credibility.
"The country's people have no confidence in the current regime, so does the international community. UNDP has pulled out its fund for an EC project. We think foreign friends have exposed their no-confidence in the government's election management by withdrawing the fund," he said.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has terminated a project titled 'Strengthening Election Management in Bangladesh' much earlier than the scheduled closure citing reasons for withdrawal of funds by donors.
"With the withdrawal of donor funds to the project, however, the project will be terminated at the end of July 2015," said an UN media note issued recently. The EU, the UK, and the US had been funding it since April 2012.
Ripon, BNP's international affairs secretary, said the donors got disappointed witnessing irregularities and manipulation in the three city polls held on April 28. "The UNDP and the EU had requested the EC to look into the incidents, but neither the government nor the Commission carried out any investigation into the allegations."
He came down hard on the EC saying it turned into a shameless government's puppet organisation.
Mentioning that the current commission lost its all credibility to hold any free and fair election, the BNP leader said, "We've long been calling for reconstituting the commission. We now urge the Chief Election Commissioner and other commissioners to quit voluntarily paving the path for forming a fair, credible and accountable Commission."
He also demanded that the government reconstitute the EC in consultation with all the registered parties and civil society members.