EU mission to monitor elections

The European Union (EU) is sending an Election Observation Mission to Bangladesh shortly to monitor the forthcoming general elections likely to be held in June.

Quoting the EU head of delegation in Dhaka, Antonio De Souza Menezes, the local news agency, UNB, reported that a high-power mission comprising 66 election observers drawn from all the 15 member states would monitor the polls.

The EUEOM (European Union Election Observer Mission) members will start arriving as soon as the election schedule is announced.

Ambassador Menezes said the EU is sending the election observers at the requests of the Bangladesh Election Commiss-ion, the government and the opposition political parties.

In reply to a question, he said the EUEOM would consist of MPs, representatives of human rights organisations, non-government organisations and Foreign Ministry officials who have expertise in monitoring elections in different countries of the world. It will have election law experts, as well as media and logistic experts.

Menezes noted EU observers would be deployed at selected areas, which appeared to be "problematic and sensitive". They would liaise with all organisations to be involved in the process of monitoring the election. The EU would also provide technical assistance, such as a media monitoring adviser for effective monitoring of the election.

The ambassador said the 66-member EUEOM would split into three groups – 24 Long Term Observers, who may be supplemented by another 20 observers, and 18 Short Term Observers. Besides, a core group of four to five observers would coordinate the entire monitoring of the election.

As part of their work plan, the EU observers would travel to different places, talk to people and election and administrative officials and familiarise themselves with the situation in a bid to have a deeper understanding of the whole exercise.