Election commissioner Abul Fazl Md Sanaullah on Tuesday said that the schedule of the 13th Jatiya Sangsad Elections would be announced in the first half of December.
The commissioner made the announcement and directed that the list of election observers must be submitted to the commission within 10 days of the schedule announcement.
He announced the information at an introductory meeting with local election observer organisations at the聽 EC headquarters.
鈥楾he 2026 national elections will be the most transparent in the history of Bangladesh,鈥� he said, warning that no deviation from electoral integrity would be tolerated.
Sanaullah said that unqualified observers would not be permitted to observe the polls, adding that foreign nationals would also not be allowed to observe elections on behalf of local organisations.
Observers will carry out duties over three days 鈥� on the eve of the elections, on the election day, and the day after.
To prevent identity fraud, the EC will introduce QR-coded identity cards for all observers.
The Election Commission held meetings with 40 local election observer organisations in the morning and 41 organisations in the afternoon.聽聽
During the meetings, chief election commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin reaffirmed his commitment to deliver a free, fair, and trustworthy national election, but stressed
that the commission
alone could not
ensure a flawless polling process.
鈥業 don鈥檛 want to dwell on the past. I always prefer to look forward. We have made many mistakes before 鈥� those can鈥檛 be repeated. We must learn from them and move ahead. This election will have our own supervisory and official mechanisms in place,鈥� the CEC said.
He emphasised the crucial role of observers, saying that the commission wanted to see the election through their eyes and any flaw in their perspective would lead to a flawed understanding of the polls.
The CEC urged observer groups to provide proper orientation and training to newly eligible observers, pointing out that the minimum age for observers had been reduced to 21.
Meanwhile, the EC public relations department informed that the commission would organise a full simulation of the Jatiya Sangsad voting process through a mock voting exercise, aimed at identifying and addressing real-time challenges faced by voters and polling staff.
The event would take place on Saturday at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Government High School in the capital, involving voters from all demographic groups, according to the EC public relations department.
Commission officials said that the mock voting would rehearse a polling exercise that would be as close as the real voting process.
Polling officers, polling agents, and voters would participate in the exercise, and voters would queue and cast their vote according to the standard procedures.
The only elements absent would be the names of political parties and candidates and electoral symbols.
All other formalities 鈥� from casting votes to the announcement of results鈥攚ould be carried out strictly in accordance with the election rules.
