Foreign missions barred from engaging local staff in polls observation
The foreign ministry on Thursday issued a letter to all the foreign diplomatic missions in Dhaka asking them not to include their Bangladeshi employees in their teams for observing the Saturday’s Dhaka city corporation elections.
The Election Commission allowed 74 including 28 Bangladeshis as ‘foreign election observer’ on the same day.
The polls to two Dhaka city corporations would be held from 8:00am to 4:00pm today amid tight security.
In the letter, the foreign ministry wrote, ‘the ministry understands that certain missions are forming teams of election observers to visit different polling booths on the polling day. According to the “Guidelines for Foreign Election Observers 2018”, no local employee of a foreign mission having Bangladeshi nationality is eligible to observe the elections as an international observer.’
‘Therefor, it would be highly appreciated if the diplomatic missions in Dhaka do not include their local employees who are Bangladeshi nationals in their teams for observing the upcoming Dhaka City Corporation elections’, the letter read.
The guidelines for foreign election observers issued by the Election Commission on November 2018 said, ‘Election Observer’ means a person or a group or an organisation permitted in writing by the commission or by any person authorised by the commission to observe any elections under the Representation of People Order 1972 or any other act conducted by the Bangladesh Election Commission.
The Election Commission issued a letter on Thursday issuing approval of 74 officials—46 foreigners and 28 Bangladeshis— serving at different high commissions and embassies in Dhaka as foreign observers for the city elections.
Following the letter issued by the foreign ministry, Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda said on Friday that Bangladeshi officials in the foreign missions would not be allowed to act as foreign observers.
The commission was yet to cancel its previous letter.
Election Commission secretary Mohammad Alamgir said another letter was also issued saying that any Bangladeshis working with international agencies would be treated as local observers.
News Courtesy: www.newaagebd.net
