A six-member Election Exploratory Mission (ExM) from the European Union (EU) will visit Bangladesh from July 8-23 to assess the situation on the ground ahead of the country’s upcoming national election.
The task of this mission will be to assess the scope, planning, budget, logistics and security of the main election observation mission, Mohammad Rafiqul Alam, Director General (Additional Charge) of Public Diplomacy Wing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told reporters at the weekly briefing on Thursday.
The EU delegation in Dhaka said it is willing to meet with government representatives, election-related authorities, representatives of the international community, officials of various law enforcement agencies, political leaders, civil society and media representatives during the investigation mission’s stay in Bangladesh.
The visit will take place at the invitation of the Election Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has little to do in this regard, said the foreign ministry official.
Based on the information received from the fact-finding mission, the European Union will take a final decision on sending a full-fledged Election Observation Mission (EOM) before the next national elections.
The main objective of the ExM is to assess the “advisability, usefulness and feasibility” of a possible EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) for the upcoming parliamentary elections, according to the EU Mission in Dhaka.
European Union Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley had a series of meetings in the last couple of months including with Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen.
In his meeting with Momen, they discussed the proposed deployment of an EU Election Observation Mission in Bangladesh ahead of the next election.
Momen welcomed observers from the EU and other countries during the elections.
The foreign minister reiterated that the government wants “free, fair and credible” general elections.
He informed the ambassador of the steps taken to empower the Election Commission to enable it to conduct a “free and fair” election.
Meanwhile, European Union’s Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore is expected to visit Bangladesh last week of this month.
During his stay, he will hold meetings with concerned officials over the Rohingya issue and will visit the Rohingya camps in Cox’s bazar district.
During his recent visit to Brussels, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam held a series of meetings including a meeting with Gilmore in first week of May
Shahriar invited Gilmore to visit Bangladesh.
