The bipartisan and international pre-election delegation of the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) on Sunday strongly extolled Bangladesh for its healthy tradition of democratic values, vibrant media, economic growth, progress and successful achievement in dealing with COVID-19 pandemic.
In a joint statement both the NDI and the IRI also said that the government of Bangladesh has also made significant achievements in infrastructure development, poverty reduction and environmental stewardship.
They said that Bangladesh has a strong tradition of democratic values buttressed by ideological pluralism, vibrant media, an active civil society, and politically engaged citizens. Over the decades, the country has achieved strong economic growth, successfully weathered the COVID-19 pandemic, and displayed environmental stewardship.
These achievements set a strong foundation for the country to achieve its 2041 vision of becoming a developed country, the statement added.
In the statement, both the organisations said that the purpose of the delegation was to provide an independent and impartial assessment of electoral preparations in advance of Bangladesh’s upcoming 12th Parliamentary Elections, examine factors that could affect the integrity and viability of a credible electoral process and offer practical and timely recommendations to help improve the prospects for inclusive, transparent, and peaceful elections and public confidence in the process.
Members of the delegation included Bonnie Glick (IRI Co-Chair), former Deputy USAID Administrator; Karl F. Inderfurth (NDI Co-Chair), former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs; Maria Chin Abdullah, former Member of the House of Representatives, Malaysia; Jamil Jaffer, former Associate Counsel to the President of the United States; Johanna Kao, IRI Senior Director, Asia-Pacific Division and Manpreet Singh Anand, NDI Regional Director, Asia-Pacific. The delegates were joined by technical and country experts from NDI and IRI.
During the tour from October 8 to 11, the delegation met with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, several ministers, various government officials, Bangladesh Election Commission (EC); different political parties, civil society representatives, election observer groups; current and former women members of parliament, leaders of different religious minority communities, media representatives, members of different legal community, and representatives of the international and diplomatic communities.
In the statement, the delegation offered some recommendations for consideration of the Election Commission, government, political parties, and other electoral stakeholders.
They said these recommendations constituted a roadmap and if undertaken in the remaining pre-election period and beyond, those can help achieve progress towards credible, inclusive, participatory, and nonviolent elections that can advance Bangladesh’s democracy.
The statement further said the delegation offered this pre-election statement in the spirit of supporting and strengthening democratic institutions in Bangladesh.
In the observation, they mentioned that Bangladesh’s Constitution and legal framework provide a clear mandate for an independent election commission. In recent years, Parliament has passed a series of laws to strengthen the role and independence of the EC, and the Commission has taken steps to expand its role in conducting credible, nonviolent elections and streamlining processes such as easing the candidate nomination process.
They said, in the current highly polarized environment, the neutrality and independence of the EC and election day polling officials are fundamental to ensuring that all contestants, as well as voters, have confidence in the process and the results. The Bangladesh government has made strides in improving the independence of the election process.
In the statement, they mentioned that in 2021, the government conducted a consultative process to select election commissioners that included public dialogues with democratic stakeholders for recommendations. The EC’s decision to forego use of electronic voting machines alleviated pervasive concerns among critics about the machines’ susceptibility to manipulation. Additionally, in recent local elections, opposition and independent candidates have won, indicating a degree of electoral fairness. The Awami League government has consistently said it intends to hold a free and fair election and has called for international election observers.
They said, procedurally, the EC has sufficient funds to conduct the elections and its preparations are well underway. It has almost completed the process to update the voter list and has begun the massive effort to recruit and train more than 600,000 poll workers to staff roughly 40,000 polling centers. The recruitment process will require significant efforts to ensure gender balance and robust youth participation, and to properly train polling officials to ensure their political neutrality and effective work. Political parties and civil society groups with whom the delegation met did not express significant concerns about electoral preparations or the credibility of the voters list.
Welcoming the EC’s transparency, in the statement, they said the EC provided polling center-level results in analyzable format on its website for previous elections, including 2018 parliamentary elections, which is a welcome sign of transparency. For the upcoming elections, the delegation encourages the EC to release results in a similarly analyzable format as a continued demonstration of election data transparency. The EC has the legal mandate to ensure the security of the electoral process.
In the statement, both the IRI and NDI mentioned that Bangladesh’s media space includes vocal criticism of the government.
Talking about the women’s role, they said women play an active role in Bangladesh’s elections as voters, campaign activists, candidates, observers, and poll workers. Bangladesh has had a woman Prime Minister for most of the last three decades, and an increasing number of women political activists and elected officials are emerging, particularly at sub-national levels.
They mentioned that Bangladesh has a diverse and active civic space with numerous high-capacity nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) that work on a range of topics including humanitarian relief, legal support, service distribution, and democracy and human rights.
Besides, they said, Bangladeshi civil society organizations have a well-established tradition of mobilizing citizens to monitor the country’s elections. These groups have previously played a key role in providing the Bangladeshi public with an independent, impartial and timely assessment of elections.
The IRI and the NDI said that they conducted this mission in accordance with the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation. The NDI and IRI are nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations dedicated to supporting and strengthening democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, and openness and accountability in government.
