US pre-election monitoring team meets with foreign ministry

The United States pre-election assessment mission held a meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today (8 October).

The team arrived in Bangladesh to follow electoral preparations and conduct an independent and impartial assessment this morning. 

Former US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Karl F Inderfurth, who is co-chairing the pre-election monitoring team of the US, said today the international community plays an important role in supporting Bangladesh as it prepares for the elections.

"We are here to listen to a variety of actors and show our support for a transparent and inclusive electoral process," he said as a joint International Republican Institute (IRI) and National Democratic Institute (NDI) mission began assessing the status of election preparations.

However, the team declined to make any comment after the meeting, which ended around 5:00pm this afternoon.

From 8 to 12 October, the six-member delegation will meet with a diverse group of election stakeholders, including government officials, political party leaders, election authorities, civil society, and others.

The NDI and IRI are nonpartisan, nongovernmental organisations which support and strengthen democratic institutions and practices worldwide. The organisations have collectively observed more than 200 elections in more than 50 countries over the last 30 years.

The delegation was co-chaired by Inderfurth and Bonnie Glick, former Deputy USAID Administrator; and includes Maria Chin Abdullah, former Member of the House of Representatives, Malaysia; Jamil Jaffer, former Associate Counsel to the President of the United States; Manpreet Singh Anand, NDI Regional Director for Asia-Pacific; and Johanna Kao, IRI Senior Director, Asia-Pacific Division.