CEC assures foreign diplomats of free, fair and credible polls

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal today said the Election Commission (EC) has assured diplomats of different foreign countries and representatives of different international organizations that the upcoming parliament election will be free, fair and credible.

“The upcoming parliamentary election will be free, fair and credible,” he told journalists after briefing diplomats of different foreign countries and representatives of different international organizations on the latest and overall situation of the 12th parliamentary polls in a city hotel.

Election Commissioners (EC) Brig Gen Md Ahsan Habib Khan (Retd), Rashida Sultana, Md. Alamgir, Md. Anisur Rahman, Foreign senior secretary Masud Bin Momen, Information and Broadcasting senior secretary Md. Humayun Kabir Khandaker, Election Commission Secretary Md. Jahangir Alam, Principal Information Officer Md. Shahinoor Miah were present on the occasion.

The CEC said the Election Commission has taken all necessary measures to hold the upcoming parliamentary election slated for January 7 in a free, fair and credible manner.

“We are focusing on the entire situation related to the parliament election to make it transparent, credible, free and fair,” he added.

The CEC said diplomats of different countries and representatives of different foreign agencies have shown their desires for holding a free, fair and credible general election after coming to the Election Commission in many times.

In response to interests and desires of foreign diplomats and representatives, he said, “We have been able to assure them that the upcoming parliamentary election will be held in free, fair and credible manner . . . election commission is constantly overseeing entire situations of the parliament election.”

As part of the initiatives related to elections, Awal said, “We will introduce election management apps on the election day to know voting percentage in every two hours.”

The newly introduced election management apps will help the parliament election transparent as it will show percentage of casting voters in every two hours, he added.

Anyone can know the voting percentage through the newly introduced election managements apps, the CEC added.

During the meeting, foreign diplomats wanted to know that EC or the government are creating any pressure on voters to go polling stations for casting their vote, Awal said adding EC and the government are not creating any pressure on voters.

As part of the election awareness campaign, the EC is encouraging the people to go to polling station for casting their votes, he added. (BSS)