The Amar Bangladesh Party (AB Party) conveyed to the European Union Election Expert Mission that the level playing field is pre-condition to holding free, fair and credible election.
'Unlawful detention of around 20 thousand pro-democracy activists since October 2023 and false convictions of close to six hundred top opposition leadership are not conducive to any free, fair, participatory and credible election,' the AB party delegation said at the meeting held on Saturday morning (9 December) in an uptown area of Dhaka.
The mission was represented by David Noel Ward, team leader and eElectoral expert, and Alexander Matus, a political expert.
The AB Party representatives were,Tajul Islam, an Advocate of Supreme Court of Bangladesh and a Joint Convenor of AB Party, Mojibur Rahman Monju, Member Secretary, Asaduzzaman Fuaad and Zubair Ahmed Bhuiyan, both Barrister-at-law and Joint Member Secretary of AB Party.
The EU mission was interested to learn about the objectives, programs and policies of the AB party.
AB Party leaders explained their organisational structure, activities across the country, potentials of new generation politics and challenges faced, specially by law enforcement agencies and ruling party militias.
The Denial of Electoral Registration to AB Party by the Election Commission was also raised, as well as providing updates on the outstanding Judicial Review application at the High Court.
Post-election scenarios might deteriorate and violent civil unrest gets sporadic, AB Party feels concerned. Neither the government nor the EC had shown any interest into holding an acceptable election by all quarters, they opined.
MSH
