Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin on Monday said he is confident that the overall law-and-order situation will further improve as the election approaches.
“As the polling day approaches, you will see, InshaAllah, the law and order situation will improve further. There will be no problem. We are confident and we have not lost hope. We will move forward,” he said.
The CEC made the remarks replying to a question from reporters while inspecting the overall situation of sending postal ballots abroad at the Bangladesh Post Office’s Mail Processing and Logistic Service Centre in the capital’s Tejgaon area.
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When his attention was drawn that the candidates and the voters feel insecure following the recent attack on Sharif Osman Hadi, he said there was no need to worry. “The fear will go away, InshaAllah,” he said.
When asked if he still believes the election will turn into a ‘festival one’ given the current environment, the CEC said, “Absolutely, absolutely and absolutely. I absolutely believe that the election will be a festival of votes, InshaAllah.”
Responding to another question on whether public confidence in the Election Commission would be restored, he said people already have confidence. “Let the time come and you will see. You, we, the people of the country, and all major political parties want the election. Everyone wants the country’s welfare,” he said.
Nasi Uddin mentioned that the EC along with the chiefs of all law enforcement agencies jointly conveyed a message to the nation that all are united in holding a credible election. “We all want a fair election,” he said.
Talking about the IT-supported hybrid postal voting system, he said the EC has made arrangements for the expatriate Bangladeshis who are interested in voting in the election.
“For the first time in 54 years, we have taken an initiative that has never happened before,” he said, adding that voting facilities through postal ballots have also been arranged for officials involved in conducting the election inside the country, government employees posted outside their constituencies, and even for prisoners.
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The CEC said the postal voting activities are being carried out with strict security measures. “The voting secrecy would be fully maintained. We have taken this initiative to ensure the integrity of the electoral process,” he mentioned.
He said voter registration is now being conducted with the assistance of the Bangladesh Postal Department and the International Postal Union.
“For the first time, we have introduced a hybrid model—online registration combined with manual vote collection through postal services—which we hope will become a global model,” he said.
Acknowledging possible shortcomings of the newly introduced system, the CEC said the system may not be perfect initially.
“We do not claim that we have been able to introduce a perfect system. It may not be perfect. It may improve later over the years,” he said, adding that the system will become more developed with time.
He said the initial response to the postal ballot registration has been satisfactory and expressed hope that more voters would register their names within the next three days to vote through the postal ballots as the deadline would expire on December 25 next.