C'wealth team to remain wary of factors eroding polls credibility
Thursday, 25 December 2008
FE Report
The London-based Commonwealth will assess whether Bangladesh follows the yardsticks of 'democratic' elections as the country's electoral preparations move into high gear.
The 53-member grouping will also take stock of the factors that could affect the credibility of the general elections, scheduled for December 29.
'We'll consider all factors impinging on the credibility of the electoral process as a whole,' Cassam Uteem, chairperson of the Commonwealth observer group, said Wednesday in the city.
'We will also consider transparency of the process whether the state apparatus and the state media remain impartial and whether the candidates were free to campaign and voters were able to express their will free of intimidation and that their will was respected,' he added.
His comments came less than a week before Bangladesh goes into the general elections to help restore democracy after a prolonged ruling by non-party caretaker government and the state of emergency.
Mr Uteem said the country is committed to abiding by the principles of democratic polls in the light of its own election-related legislation as well as relevant regional and international commitments.
The Commonwealth chief, Kamalesh Sharma, constituted a 10-member observer group led by former president of Mauritius, Cassam Uteem, to observe the 2008 parliamentary elections in Bangladesh.
'These elections should enable resumption of normal democratic life in the country and the re-constitution of parliament,' Mr Uteem told reporters.
The observer group's task is to observe and report on relevant aspects of the organisation and conduct of elections, he noted.
Asked how the small group would observe the elections, the leader said they would liaison with other observers, local and international.
His group members would be neutral, impartial and independent while discharging their duties and assessing the polls, he pledged.
He, however, made it clear that the group's assessment would be its own-not that of member nations of the Commonwealth or its secretariat.
The London-based Commonwealth will assess whether Bangladesh follows the yardsticks of 'democratic' elections as the country's electoral preparations move into high gear.
The 53-member grouping will also take stock of the factors that could affect the credibility of the general elections, scheduled for December 29.
'We'll consider all factors impinging on the credibility of the electoral process as a whole,' Cassam Uteem, chairperson of the Commonwealth observer group, said Wednesday in the city.
'We will also consider transparency of the process whether the state apparatus and the state media remain impartial and whether the candidates were free to campaign and voters were able to express their will free of intimidation and that their will was respected,' he added.
His comments came less than a week before Bangladesh goes into the general elections to help restore democracy after a prolonged ruling by non-party caretaker government and the state of emergency.
Mr Uteem said the country is committed to abiding by the principles of democratic polls in the light of its own election-related legislation as well as relevant regional and international commitments.
The Commonwealth chief, Kamalesh Sharma, constituted a 10-member observer group led by former president of Mauritius, Cassam Uteem, to observe the 2008 parliamentary elections in Bangladesh.
'These elections should enable resumption of normal democratic life in the country and the re-constitution of parliament,' Mr Uteem told reporters.
The observer group's task is to observe and report on relevant aspects of the organisation and conduct of elections, he noted.
Asked how the small group would observe the elections, the leader said they would liaison with other observers, local and international.
His group members would be neutral, impartial and independent while discharging their duties and assessing the polls, he pledged.
He, however, made it clear that the group's assessment would be its own-not that of member nations of the Commonwealth or its secretariat.