Chief election commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin on Tuesday said that the constitutionally guaranteed independence of the Election Commission must not be compromised in delivering a credible election as the nation aspires.
Apparently hinting at the recent report of the Electoral Reform Commission, the CEC said, 鈥榃e do not want the EC鈥檚 independence to be compromised.鈥�
His remarks came following a meeting with the European Union ambassador in Bangladesh Michael Miller held at the commission headquarters in the city.聽
He said that the EU asked about the level of preparedness of the election commission for the coming elections, which would mark a step towards the democratic transition.
They wanted to understand how the EC was preparing, the timeline for completing all necessary arrangements and the progress on essential tasks such as voter registration, CEC Nasir Uddin said.
鈥楾he report of the Electoral Reform Commission was discussed in the meeting, and we informed the EU representatives that we do not want the election commission鈥檚 independence to be compromised,鈥� Naris Uddin said.
On January 15, the reform commission submitted its report, including reform recommendations, to Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus.
The chief election commissioner opposed some of the recommendations, observing that their implementation would undermine the election commission鈥檚 independence.
AMM Nasir Uddin said that the European Union acknowledged the importance of the election commission鈥檚 independence, stressing that devoid of independence the commission would fail to fulfill the nation鈥檚 expectations.
鈥榃e informed them that we are deploying all our resources to ensure the elections are free, fair and credible,鈥� he said.
CEC Nasir Uddin said that the EU representatives believed time was running out for reforms and were placing greater emphasis on implementation of the reforms.
鈥楾hey are not giving any pressure but suggested that the reform process should go on,鈥� he said.
After the meeting, the EU ambassador told reporters that they had 鈥榓n excellent conversation鈥� regarding the perspectives on the coming elections in Bangladesh.
鈥業 have come with a message of support for the reform ambitions of the interim government for the holding of elections in a transparent manner in line with international standards,鈥� he said.
Miller said that they asked the CEC what the European Union could do to support the election commission and Bangladesh at this 鈥榚xtremely important moment鈥�.
Nasir Uddin said that the EU assured that they would provide all kind of assistance to support Bangladesh鈥檚 progress, iterating its commitment to help the democratic transition happen.
The CEC further said that the EU would send experts to review the situation and later update the election commission about the details of the support it would provide.