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.
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.