Commonwealth team meets EC to be apprised of polls preparations

A Commonwealth pre-election assessment mission on Sunday met the Election Commission (EC) to know the preparations for the 13th parliamentary election expected to take place in early February, reports UNB.

A five-member Commonwealth delegation, led by its electoral support section's (ESS) head Linford Andrews, sat with Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin and four election commissioners at Nirbachan Bhaban in the city.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Linford Andrews said they are here in Bangladesh with a number of objectives in mind, including ascertaining whether there will be broad support among all stakeholders in Bangladesh for the presence of a common observer mission during the next election.

"We are here with a number of objectives in mind. The first objective is for us to ascertain whether there will be broad support among all stakeholders in Bangladesh for the presence of a common observer mission. We are also here to assess the prevailing environment as well as the preparations for the election," he said.

He said it is customary when the Commonwealth is due to be invited to observe a Commonwealth member country's election; the Commonwealth Secretary General deploys a pre-election assessment mission to the member country.

"I must thank both the interim administration for kindly facilitating all the appointments for us as well as the Chief Election Commissioner, fellow commissioners and the senior secretary for kindly briefing us on their preparations for the upcoming elections," said Linford Andrews.

He said it is their first day in the country and they would be here until Friday (October 31).