Dhaka: Election Commission (EC) Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed announced that a 150-member European Union (EU) observers’ team will be deployed to Bangladesh to monitor the forthcoming 13th parliamentary election. This announcement was made during a meeting with a seven-member EU delegation at the Nirbachan Bhaban in Agargaon, led by senior election expert Riccardo Chelleri.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the observer mission will be formalized through a tripartite memorandum of understanding between the European Union, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, and the Election Commission. The EU observer team will arrive in Bangladesh in phases after the election schedule is announced and will remain active until the completion of the entire electoral process, including the publication of the gazette.
The EC secretary outlined that the EU delegation inquired about their access to polling stations, the organization of the polling officer’s secret room, and their presence during the vote counting process. The delegation expressed interest in participating from the announcement of the election schedule.
The delegation also visited Rangpur and Chattogram and expressed satisfaction with the progress of the electoral preparations. They are expected to submit a report after reviewing the terms, and a draft agreement will be prepared for review before proceeding with the signing process.
The EC secretary mentioned that the EU would provide a list of observer names and details to address visa and security issues in phases. This development follows a previous meeting on September 22 with an eight-member EU ‘exploratory mission’ team and EC officials, including Election Commissioner Brigadier General (Retd) Abul Fazal Md. Sanaullah and EC Secretariat Joint Secretary (Election Management-2) Md. Moin Uddin Khan.