By Mohiuddin Alamgir in The Daily Star, Nov 09, 2023
Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal and four election commissioners are set to meet with President Mohammed Shahabuddin today to discuss whether the election schedule can be announced on November 14 or 15.
The EC will make the final decision about when to announce the election schedule after today’s meeting at the Bangabhaban, The Daily Star has learnt from people informed with the proceedings.
It is customary for the EC to make a courtesy call to the president before announcing the poll schedule.
EC secretary Jahangir Alam yesterday said the schedule is likely to be announced in the first half of this month.
At the meeting with the president, the EC will brief the former on the election preparations, Jahangir told reporters.
“If there is any advice and direction from the president, the commission will take note,” he said.
The EC already held meetings with Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan and the heads of the law enforcement agencies and ministries.
Today’s meeting between the EC and the president is taking place at a time when the country is witnessing political violence.
The BNP-Jamaat are enforcing blockades demanding that the election be held under a non-partisan caretaker government while the ruling Awami League maintains that such demands are unconstitutional and will not be met.
Asked about the political situation, Jahangir said the country’s environment is conducive for announcing the polls schedule.
‘EU, OTHERS INTERESTED IN MONITORING POLLS’
The EU, Commonwealth and US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) have so far expressed their desire to monitor the election, said an EC statement yesterday.
The Commonwealth’s pre-election assessment mission will meet with EC officials on November 19, Jahangir told reporters.
The assessment mission will be visiting Dhaka from November 19-22.
EC officials said the Commonwealth will decide whether to send a full observer mission after the findings of the pre-election mission are communicated to its secretary-general.
Earlier, the EU sent a pre-election mission and decided not to send a full observer mission. The EU, however, later said they would send a four-member observer team to monitor the polls.
A US pre-election mission visited Bangladesh, but the country has yet to announce whether it will send a full mission.
https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/elections/news/polls-schedule-ec-discuss-possible-date-president-today-3465166
