EU delegation sits with Jatiya Party leaders

After meeting with the BNP leaders this morning (15 July), the European Union's Election Exploratory Mission has sat down with the main opposition party Jatiya Party leaders.

Led by party Chairman Ghulam Muhammed Quader, the Jatiya Party delegation consisted of four leaders including Secretary General Mujibul Haque Chunnu.

On Saturday, the delegation is scheduled to meet with the ruling Awami League at Banani's Hotel Sheraton at 12pm, then with Jamaat-e-Islami at 2:30pm and with Amar Bangladesh (AB) Party at 4pm. The Jamaat-e-Islami delegation will be led by Naib Amir Syed Abdullah Muhammad Taher and the AB party delegation will be led by Party joint convener Tajul Islam.

The delegation has already concluded a one-and-a-half-hour meeting with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party starting at 9am at its Chairperson's Gulshan office. Party Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir led the BNP delegation while being accompanied by standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Organising Secretary Shama Obaid, Human Rights Affairs Secretary Asaduzzaman Asad and BNP chairperson's adviser Ismail Hossain Zabiullah.

Earlier on Sunday (9 July), the European Union's six-member Election Exploratory Mission arrived in Dhaka to survey the atmosphere ahead of the next national election.

The delegation, which will be visiting Bangladesh till 23 July, includes Dimitra Ioannou, Alves Chritina Dos Ramos, Miller Ian James, Chamagne Christopher and Marie-Helene Enderlin.

The main objective of the visiting mission is to assess the "advisability, usefulness and feasibility" of a possible EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) for the upcoming parliamentary elections, according to the EU Mission in Dhaka.