Khairul Alam : A team of foreign election observers made up of distinguished personalities from countries including the United States and Japan today denied the demand for an interim government during election time and expressed confidence in the ability of the Election Commission (EC) to conduct elections fair and credible.
US political analyst Terry L Isley a member of the visiting team, said that calls for an independent interim government will be ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘illegal’ in the current situation,”
He added: “As a representative of the observer delegation, we have determined that your election commission is constitutionally empowered and independent, so it can be fair in administering the elections.”
This was the second team of foreign election observers to visit Bangladesh, which is led by Irish-born senior political journalist Nick Paul, who currently covers European Union political affairs.
He said that the delegation reviewed the possibilities of the interim government by going back and forth many times to see if this was possible and came to the conclusion that “right now it is not possible.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States wanted the upcoming election to be fair and credible and that the ruling party Awami League was still responsible. Team member Isley said that he was not representing the US government as an observer but he is concern about this issue.,
The others who formed the delegation at the Commission meeting were Japanese social activist Yusuki Sugu and Chinese political analyst Andy Lin.
The delegation team also participated in a civil dialogue on the assessment of the pre-election situation and the political environment on sunday in capital city.
Earlier, on February 24, the first international election observer team from Germany, Nepal, India and Bhutan visited Bangladesh and exchanged views with some police parties, the Election Commission and civil society representatives.