UN panel arrives today to assess preparation for general election
Sunday, 23 November 2008
A three-member high-level team from the United Nations (UN) would visit Bangladesh Sunday to scrutinise the staging of parliamentary elections next month, the UN has said, reports UNB.
"The panel is tasked with assessing the preparations and conduct of the elections through visits to Bangladesh before and during the elections," said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson in a statement in New York Friday.
The panel begins its first visit to Bangladesh today (Sunday) and returns for about a week around the time of the election, before reporting back to Ban Ki-moon with its key findings and recommendations.
The caretaker government had asked the UN secretary general to send a high-level panel in an effort to ensure that the elections were free and fair.
Parliamentary polls were scheduled to take place on December 18, an election the government had pledged to be the fairest in the country's history.
Francesc Vendrell, the secretary-general's former personal representative for Afghanistan and European Union (EU) envoy to the same country, will head the UN panel. The other members are Bhojraj Pokharel, Nepal's chief election commissioner, and Aracelly Santana, the former deputy director of the UN Electoral Assistance Division.
"The panel is tasked with assessing the preparations and conduct of the elections through visits to Bangladesh before and during the elections," said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson in a statement in New York Friday.
The panel begins its first visit to Bangladesh today (Sunday) and returns for about a week around the time of the election, before reporting back to Ban Ki-moon with its key findings and recommendations.
The caretaker government had asked the UN secretary general to send a high-level panel in an effort to ensure that the elections were free and fair.
Parliamentary polls were scheduled to take place on December 18, an election the government had pledged to be the fairest in the country's history.
Francesc Vendrell, the secretary-general's former personal representative for Afghanistan and European Union (EU) envoy to the same country, will head the UN panel. The other members are Bhojraj Pokharel, Nepal's chief election commissioner, and Aracelly Santana, the former deputy director of the UN Electoral Assistance Division.