The US plans to send 12 teams of observers and fund thousands of domestic observers to monitor an election in Bangladesh that it hopes would be free and fair, a senior official at the US embassy in Dhaka said.
Amid opposition concerns about rigging in the Dec. 30 general election, there has been speculation about US plans for it, especially after the EU this week said it would not send observers, nor comment on the vote or result.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is seeking a third straight term.
Her old rival, Khaleda Zia, who leads the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), is in jail after being convicted on charges that she has said were politically motivated.
Scores of BNP workers have also been detained.
The BNP boycotted the last election, in 2014, as unfair, but has said it would participate this time, although it is seeking international monitors of polls that it has said it believes would be flawed.
The US is sending a dozen teams, each of about two observers, who would fan out to most parts of the country, said William Moeller, political officer at the US embassy in Dhaka.
“The Bangladesh government has emphasized that it plans to hold a free and fair election,” Moeller said this week. “We welcome that and are providing funding for election observers who hope to see such an outcome.”
Moeller referred to reports of harassment and intimidation before recent city corporation elections, which he said could have suppressed voter turnout.
“We raised these concerns at the time, so we are hoping that we won’t see the same issues in the national elections,” he said.
The National Democratic Institute, a US-based non-profit, said after an assessment in October that the polls would be held “amid a high degree of political polarization, heightened tensions and shrinking political space.”
The Bangkok-based Asian Network for Free Elections is to send a team of about 30 short and long-term observers, Moeller said.
About 15,000 Bangladeshi observers are to be funded by the US Agency for International Development, the British Department for International Development and the Swiss government, he said.
The domestic observers would spread out, but might not be able to reach every polling station, he said.
Hasina and Khaleda have alternated in power over the past 28 years. Elections in Bangladesh are often violent and marred by ballot-stuffing and voter intimidation.
Hasina’s Bangladesh Awami League has held power since 2009 and dispensed from 2014 the practice of letting a neutral caretaker government oversee elections, to the anger of the BNP.
The government has brushed off opposition fears of rigging.
“I don’t see any possibility this time, because all the parties are participating, and all of them will have their election agents,” said H.T. Imam, a political adviser to Hasina.
Bangladesh has seen steady economic growth under Hasina and the development of a vibrant garment sector under-pinning export growth, accounting for 80 percent of the economy, but rights groups have criticized increasing curbs on freedom of speech and the media.
Hoping to capitalize on dissatisfaction, the BNP has formed an alliance with smaller parties called the National Unity Front and Hasina said this week that she expected competitive polls.
The EU delegation in Dhaka said it was not sending observers, because of growing demand for them amid tight resources.
India had no plan to send observers unless Bangladesh asked, an official at the Indian High Commission said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was