After failing to attract attention of election observers from EU, Commonwealth, the United States, and other western countries, the Election Commission (EC) now plans to invite ‘foreign observers’ from SAARC countries. To arrange the trips of election observers from SAARC countries, the EC has already sent a letter to the finance ministry to allocate Tk 1 crore to the commission from the “special allocation fund.” “Yes, we sent a letter to the finance ministry in this regard and it is not illegal,” a senior EC official said yesterday preferring anonymity.
EC sources said only 35 out of 120 registered local election observer groups expressed their willingness to monitor the upcoming polls. However, the EU, Commonwealth and 56 other international observer groups already apprised the
EC of their unwillingness to monitor the 10th parliamentary election.
According to the EC secretariat, the EU, Commonwealth, the National Democratic Institute for International Affair (USA), Election Working Group (EWG) and other domestic groups had sent observers for the first time in Bangladesh in 1986 to monitor the national election.
In 1988, foreign observers visited Bangladesh again to monitor initiatives taken by then autocratic government towards democratic process. Since then, foreign countries, organisations, and groups have been sending observes in the country to monitor the election process which took a different momentum in1991 under the first caretaker government.
To monitor the observers and give them room to do their job in a proper manner, the EC introduced guidelines for both foreign and domestic election observers under the authority of section 91(C) of the Representation of the People Order (RPO) and other related laws.
-With The Independent input
