Voice 9, Dhaka Bureau: The election for the twelfth National Parliament of Bangladesh has been reported to be unbiased, transparent, and festive-oriented by the election observation teams from nine countries, including India.
On Monday (January 8), during a
press conference on election observation at the National Press Club, this was
revealed by Syed Ali Zahir, a member of the Sri Lankan Parliament and former
minister, and the Deputy Chief of the Muslim Congress of the country.
He stated, "To observe the
election for the twelfth National Parliament of Bangladesh, we have come from
the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Iraq, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India,
Nepal, and the Maldives. We have observed the pre-election situation in
Bangladesh since January 5. On the day of the election, January 7, we started
our inspections very early. We visited nearly 30 polling centers around Dhaka
city."
Syed Ali Zahir said,
"After coming to Bangladesh, we came to know that the opposition set fire
to a train in Dhaka. We have also heard news of polling center vandalism and
arson. We strongly condemn such acts. We urge the Bangladesh Election
Commission to take strong action against those involved in such violent and
vandalistic activities. We believe that the Bangladesh government is making
rigorous efforts to establish democracy, rule of law, and human rights. From
our perspective, the government holds a significant position in establishing
the voting rights of the people."
He further added, "We have
already stated that from January 5 to Sunday, we have seen a very sincere
interest of the people of Bangladesh in the election. There is a lot of
enthusiasm and inspiration in the general public's voting, which is truly
commendable. We have observed that the voting started in the morning and ended
at 4 p.m. We have seen people standing in long lines to cast their votes. The
presence of women and new voters has caught our attention."
Also present at the press
conference were Snehashish Sore, President of the Calcutta Press Club, Javiyer
Piedra, Special Correspondent of Asia Times, Emmanuel Findoro-Ovasi, Chairman
of the Commonwealth Association, Richard Semetigo, Director of Africa House
London, Jun Shin, President of IDLO, Amjad Mustafa, former Vice President of
the Maldives Election Commission, Ibrahim Aide Mohammed, Vice Chairman of ADIL,
Samim Mia Ansari, Chairman of the Nepal Muslim Commission, and members Mohammed
Ali, Jurapas Pithaksekathorn, Human Rights Worker in Thailand, and Talar Mahmud
Karim, Human Rights Worker in Iraq.
