Members of the Election Exploratory Mission (ExM) from European Union (EU) had a meeting with the Election Commission (EC) today (July 11, 2023), and wanted to know about its preparations for holding the next election "fairly and peacefully." The EC discussed its preparations with the visiting EU delegation. Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal, EU delegation leader Chelleri Riccardo, and EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whitely, among others, were present at the meeting. EC proved its ‘impartiality, capability through fair polls’ in 5 recent city elections: Monitoring Forum tells EU delegates A technical team of the mission will further discuss the relevant issues with the EC on July 18,19. EU delegation leader Riccardo said they are in Dhaka to assess the pre-electoral conditions in order to prepare an analysis for the EU High Representative which will then decide whether or not a full election observation mission will be deployed in Bangladesh. EU encourages ‘peaceful, fair, participatory’ election in Bangladesh: Ambassador Whiteley The CEC did not make any comment, saying his views are aligned with that of the EU delegation leader. Riccardo did not take any questions from the media. The EU mission will stay in Bangladesh till July 23. The main objective of the Election Exploratory Mission is to assess the “advisability, usefulness and feasibility” of a possible EU Election Observation Mission for the upcoming parliamentary election, according to the EU Mission in Dhaka. AL prefers dictatorship, feudalism, not democracy: Fakhrul

Leaders of the Election Monitoring Forum (EMF) today (July 11, 2023) informed the Election Exploratory Mission from European Union (EU) that the Election Commission has proven its “impartiality, courage and capability” in holding free and fair polls in five city corporations held recently. Though a major political party did not participate in the recently held elections in the five city corporations, a large part of their former councilors and local leaders took part in the elections and were elected, the EMF leaders said. Read: US doesn't consider it interference when other countries discuss its elections: State Dept In all the local elections that have been held recently, the EMF leaders said, they have observed that the government has not interfered or influenced the elections and has fully cooperated with the Election Commission in maintaining law and order situation. Chairman of the Election Monitoring Forum, Professor Mohammad Abed Ali, was present during the meeting. Advisor of the Election Monitoring Forum and former Election Commissioner Brigadier General (Retd) Shahadat Hossain Chowdhury, directors of the forum – Vice-Chancellor of DUET Prof M Habibur Rahman and BUET Pro-Vice-Chancellor Prof Abdul Jabbar Khan – were also present at the meeting. Read: Momen welcomes foreign observers during maiden interaction with British envoy During the meeting, the EMF leaders said that the current Election Commission has recently implemented strict monitoring of law-and-order situation with CCTV cameras to ensure the safety of voters in local elections and cancellation of elections due to irregularities in Gaibandha by-election has boosted the confidence of voters.