Shawdesh Desk:

The chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal on Tuesday said that the main focus of the Election Commission’s meeting with the visiting the United States pre-election assessment mission was on free, fair, participatory and peaceful elections.

The US mission held a meeting with the EC at Nirbachan Bhaban in Dhaka.

Later CEC briefed reporters about the meeting.

No member of the US mission, however, spoke to the media.

Awal said that the US delegation wanted to know about the duties and functions of the EC and the commission explained to the delegation about the works of EC, and how the works are coordinated with the government.

The US delegation came to Dhaka on Saturday to assess the issue of sending a full-fledged observer mission to observe the parliamentary elections in Bangladesh that scheduled for January next year.

The US delegation consisted of the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute.

On the third day of the visit, the US delegation on Monday held one-by-one meetings with various political parties, including the ruling Awami League and the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jatiya Party.

In a separate meeting with the US delegation, Awami League and BNP – both the parties – put forward conflicting positions on the election issue.

Earlier in July, the European Union’s pre-election observation team visited Bangladesh to review the pre-election political situation, including the environment for the parliamentary elections in Bangladesh. Based on their recommendation, the EU has decided not to send a full-fledged observer team to the upcoming parliamentary elections in Bangladesh.