The visiting delegation of the Election Exploratory Mission from the European Union held a series of meetings in last two days (Monday and Tuesday) with different ministers, officials from different ministries, law-enforcement agencies and several other state bodies.
On Tuesday, the six-member EU delegation team on Tuesday held separate meetings with the high officials of the Election Commission (EC), including Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal, at the EC office in capital’s Agargaon, and Attorney General AM Amin Uddin at his office in the Supreme Court.
The EU delegation also held a meeting with the Bangladesh Election Monitoring Forum (EMF) at the Delegation of the EU in Dhaka.
After the meeting, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin said, “During the meeting, we discussed electoral laws in the country."
Earlier on Monday, the EU delegation held separate meetings with Foreign Affairs Minister AK Abdul Momen, ruling Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader, also the Minister for Road, Transport and Bridge, officials of the National Human Rights Commission, high officials of the Bangladesh Police. They also held another meeting with the representatives of the Internationals Affairs sub-committee of the ruling Awami League.
The six-member EU delegation led by Chelleri Riccardo began their activities in Dhaka on Sunday. On the first day of their 16-day visit at the invitation of the Election Commission, the EU held internal meetings at the office of the European Union in the city, joined by several foreign diplomats, according to officials concerned.
According to sources, the EU delegation had a meeting with National Human Rights Commission chairman Kamal Uddin Ahmed at his office on Monday morning, and later in the afternoon they met with the police officials to know about the security plan for the election observers, according to officials.
The delegation wanted to know whether there was any risk of violence during the election in Bangladesh, Kamal Uddin told reporters after the meeting.
The EU team also held talks with a ruling Awami League delegation, led by AL foreign affairs sub-committee chairman and former ambassador Muhammad Zamir, at the residence of the EU ambassador in the city.
Meanwhile, EU ambassador and head of delegation Charles Whiteley held a meeting with the ruling Awami League general secretary and also the road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader at his office in the secretariat.
‘We very much encourage peaceful, free, fair, and participatory elections in Bangladesh,’ Whiteley told reporters after his meeting with Quader.
Quader was informed that the Election Exploratory Mission would be holding meetings with all, including political parties, civil society groups, and security forces.
‘You know they are here to decide and recommend whether the EU should deploy a full election observation mission. So, it is a good opportunity to speak with the minister about this and the EU’s support,’ the news agency quoted Whiteley as saying.
Whiteley said that they had open discussions on relevant issues.
Sources said the EU mission would hold another meeting with the AL delegates, led by Obaidul Quader, on July 15.
Earlier in the morning on Monday, the EU Election Exploratory Mission had a meeting with senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Inspector General of Missions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Asad Alam Siam, was present among others at the meeting.
The EU delegation held a one-and-a-half-hour meeting at PHQ with the additional inspector general of police (admin) Md Kamrul Ahasan. Senior police officials were also present at the meeting.
PHQ spokesperson and assistant inspector general (media) Md Manzur Hossain, said that the discussion was not about the election, but the delegation wanted to know what security measures would be taken by the police if their election observation team came to Bangladesh during the national polls.
They discussed and raised security issues with the election monitoring teams, said the official.
The EU mission is supposed to hold meetings with politicians, members of the civil society, journalists, and government officials during this time to determine whether the European Union should send observers during the upcoming national polls here.
Foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen told reporters at the ministry on Thursday that the election exploratory mission coming from the European Union would determine whether they would send election observers during the next general election in Bangladesh or not.
The six-strong Election Exploratory Mission from the EU is visiting Bangladesh to conduct a feasibility study on the prospects of a free, fair, and participatory election and check if it would be possible to send election observers for the upcoming election.
The mission will evaluate the periphery of work, planning, budget, logistics, and security of the key election observer mission during its visit from July 8 to July 23.
The EU mission will submit its report to Josep Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, as Charles Whiteley, the EU ambassador to Bangladesh, said earlier.
Based on the report, Borrell will make a decision on sending election observers to Bangladesh.
Moreover, the United States under-secretary for civilian security, democracy, and human rights and US special coordinator for Tibetan issues, Uzra Zeya, arrived in Dhaka on Tuesday on a four-day visit.
In Bangladesh, she would meet senior officials to discuss shared humanitarian concerns, including the Rohingya crisis, labour issues, human rights, free and fair elections, and trafficking in persons, according to a statement from the US State Department.