EU wants to see successful election in Bangladesh, says BNP’s Khosru

The European Union is closely monitoring Bangladesh’s next general election and aims to see it held successfully, senior BNP leader Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury has said.

The BNP National Standing Committee member made the statement at a news briefing after a meeting between the EU ambassador to Dhaka and BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in Gulshan on Wednesday.

He said, “Today’s meeting discussed the elections in Bangladesh. They are supporting the Election Commission, providing financial support to it, they are working with civil society, and talking to the political parties as well. They have decided to bring their own (election) observers.”

‘‘They are paying more attention to ensure that the election is successful. Right now, their focus is on holding the election smoothly, since they have a significant involvement in this election. They want this election to be a free, fair one and democratic order to be reestablished in Bangladesh.”

The meeting was held at the BNP chairperson’s office in Gulshan at 11am. Alongside Fakhrul, Khosru, Joint Secretary General Humayun Kabir and Organising Secretary Shama Obaid were present at the meeting.

‘BNP CANDIDATES PICKED WELL’

Khosru said, “An election atmosphere has been created in Bangladesh now and the people are supporting the election. The idea of holding the election is in the air everywhere. Not only the BNP, almost every political party is working towards the election.”

‘‘After nominating candidates for 236 seats (by BNP), I would say it has been quite acceptable to everyone. I believe the reports from all quarters have also said that the nominations have been good for the BNP. There were some other assumptions (on the nominations) which did not materialise.

“Rather, it turned out to be necessary for the general people. The reports we got from different quarters showed everyone was happy.”

‘AL NOT IN ELECTION RACE’

In response to a question, Khosru said: “The Awami League is not even in the election race. They’re not in the country, their leader is not in the country. Their activities are suspended.”

‘‘This kind of criminal activity can be done by anyone, why only the Awami League? If you want to be protected from criminal or violent acts, then the law enforcement agencies must fulfil their duties properly. They need to find out who is committing these crimes.

“We hope that the government will be more diligent in this matter and deal with it better.”

He said there was no reason to believe that anyone would be able to disrupt the elections through criminal acts before the polls.