The visiting US pre-election assessment mission on Sunday (October 15) placed a five-point recommendation including free and open dialogue in a bid to ensure credible, inclusive, participatory, and nonviolent national elections in Bangladesh.

The recommendations include:

• Free and open dialogue should be organized on election issues.
• Protect freedom of expression and ensure an open civic space, where dissent is respected.
• Remain committed to non-violence and hold perpetrators of political violence accountable.
• Conditions must be created to allow all parties to participate in meaningful political competition. Among which independent election management should be strengthened.
•  A culture of inclusive and active electoral participation must be promoted among citizens.

The joint mission of the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) visited Bangladesh from October 8 to 11 to provide an independent and impartial assessment of electoral preparations for Bangladesh's upcoming 12th parliamentary elections and offer recommendations that could help improve the prospects for inclusive, transparent, and peaceful elections and public confidence in the process.

Following the visit, it issued a statement today.

The statement said Bangladesh's robust economic growth and strong tradition of democratic values have set a strong foundation for the country to achieve its 2041 vision of becoming a developed country.

However, the current political environment presents several challenges to electoral integrity, including uncompromising and zero-sum politics, highly charged rhetoric, political violence, a widespread climate of uncertainty and fear, contracting civic space and freedom of expression, and a trust deficit among citizens, political leaders, and other stakeholders, it said.

Women, youth, and other marginalised groups also face significant barriers to participation. Bangladesh is at a crossroads and the upcoming elections provide a litmus test of the country's commitment to a democratic, participatory, and competitive political process, the statement said

"The best way to end the stalemate is through good faith dialogue, in the run-up to the January 2024 elections and beyond."

The delegation recognises that it is the people of Bangladesh who will ultimately determine the credibility and legitimacy of their elections and their country's democratic development. The delegation therefore offers this pre-election statement in the spirit of supporting and strengthening democratic institutions in Bangladesh.

Members of the joint 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.

BDST: 1240 HRS, OCT 15, 2023
MSK