EC to impose conditions on election observers
Thursday, 20 March 2008
The Election Commission (EC) is planning to impose a number of conditions - including minimum age and educational qualifications - for local observers in the upcoming elections, an election official said Tuesday.
According to the proposed conditions, those applying must be above 25 years of age and have passed SSC or equivalent examinations to be considered eligible as election observers, Election Commissioner Md Sohul Hossain told the bdnews24.com.
"There will also be a condition in the proposed regulations that observers may not express their view before the results are published", Hossain said.
"Their opinion sometimes affects the election results. However, they will be allowed to send off their written views to the EC."
He said the proposal would be finalised in discussion with the Election Working Group, a coalition of election observation agencies. "This time we will take a tougher line on election observers", he added.
The election commissioner said deputy commissioners, district and upazila election officers will verify the neutrality of the observers. He said it would take time to finalise the regulations.
The EC had earlier formulated similar regulations in 2007 for the January 22 polls. But the proposal was cancelled along with the elections.
The EC had given the go ahead to 126,630 observers from Bangladesh and about 150 from abroad prior to the cancelled 2007 elections.
According to the proposed conditions, those applying must be above 25 years of age and have passed SSC or equivalent examinations to be considered eligible as election observers, Election Commissioner Md Sohul Hossain told the bdnews24.com.
"There will also be a condition in the proposed regulations that observers may not express their view before the results are published", Hossain said.
"Their opinion sometimes affects the election results. However, they will be allowed to send off their written views to the EC."
He said the proposal would be finalised in discussion with the Election Working Group, a coalition of election observation agencies. "This time we will take a tougher line on election observers", he added.
The election commissioner said deputy commissioners, district and upazila election officers will verify the neutrality of the observers. He said it would take time to finalise the regulations.
The EC had earlier formulated similar regulations in 2007 for the January 22 polls. But the proposal was cancelled along with the elections.
The EC had given the go ahead to 126,630 observers from Bangladesh and about 150 from abroad prior to the cancelled 2007 elections.