EC cannot intervene in political disputes

Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal yesterday said the EC doesn’t have the scope to engage itself in any disputes or differences in the political arena.

“We told the EU delegation that if there is any difference of opinion in the political arena, we can’t interfere in it. We can’t engage,” he told reporters after a meeting with a European Union delegation at the EC office in Dhaka.

He said the EU delegation visited the EC to know about its preparations for the 12th national election.

“We conveyed to them the message that we have a constitutional obligation to conduct a free and fair election. I think they have understood that,” said the CEC.

Earlier, after the meeting, EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley, who led the delegation, said the world expects the next general election in Bangladesh would be held in a democratic, credible, peaceful and participatory manner.

The other delegation members were Dr Bernd Spanier, deputy head of mission; Sebastian Riger-Brown, political officer; Swedish Ambassador Alexandra Berg Von Linde; Spanish Ambassador Francisco de Asís Benítez Salas; Italian Ambassador Antonio Alessandro; Ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherlands Irma van Dueren; Ambassador of Denmark Christian Brix Møller; Deputy Head of Mission at the French Embassy Gillaume Audren de Kerdrel and Chargé d’Affaires at Embassy of Germany Jan Janowski.

A four-member team of EU election experts arrived in Bangladesh early yesterday to observe the January 7 national election.

The expert mission will start working formally from Sunday and will stay in Bangladesh for almost two months, a foreign ministry official told The Daily Star.

In July, an EU exploratory mission visited Bangladesh. Weeks after the visit, the EU announced that it would not send a fully-fledged election observation mission as it had doubts that the environment was conducive to hold elections.