C T Online Desk: At a meeting with Jatiya Party chairman GM Quader, diplomats from some European countries in Dhaka on Sunday said that the next general elections in Bangladesh should be held in a free, fair, and credible manner with the participation of all political parties.
The European Union ambassador to Bangladesh, Charles Whiteley, invited GM Quader to a breakfast meeting at his Gulshan residence, where JP secretary general Mujibul Haque Chunnu and ambassadors from as many as nine European countries were also present.
‘European Union heads of mission are continuing their regular meetings with political parties to gain insights into the outlook in Bangladesh. Today, together with HOMs of Sweden and Denmark, we met GM Quader, Chairman of the Jatiya Party, for a wide-ranging exchange,’ Whiteley tweeted.
Speaking to New Age later in the day, Mujibul said that they discussed the latest political situation in the country with the diplomats.
He said that European diplomats want the next general elections in Bangladesh to be participatory and held in a free, fair, and credible manner.
‘The diplomats wanted to know our opinion regarding the caretaker system of government to supervise the elections. We said that we do not believe in the caretaker government system,’ said the JP secretary general, also a former state minister in the Awami League-led government in its previous term.
He said that they told the diplomats that free, fair, and credible elections could be conducted by the present Election Commission under the partisan government if they were given sufficient power.
The diplomats also wanted to know their opinion on the use of electronic voting machines in the elections.
‘We have told them that using the EVMs is not a problem in the elections. The people who would operate the machines might be the problem,’ Mujibul said, adding that the government employees responsible for operating the EVMs could be a problem as they would try to favour the ruling government.
According to a JP press release, diplomats from Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, and France attended the meeting.
