Last 3 polls’ foreign observers will not be invited this time: CEC

This time the EC will not invite the foreign observers who certified the last three national elections as ‘acceptable and credible’, said Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin on Tuesday.

“The commission will invite the foreign observers who are dependable and reliable and also have experiences of observing elections in different countries. So, we will take (invite) them and will minus those who certified the previous three elections.”

He made the remark following a meeting with Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Ajit Singh at the Election Commission headquarters in Agargaon.

Nasir Uddin also expressed optimism that a huge number of foreign observers would come to watch the next general election.

The commission has also sought assistance from Canada on preventing the abuse of AI.

“The AI misuse may be a big threat for us. We’ve sought their (Canada’s) assistance on how to address this issue because Canada had an election last year. So, they had to face such issues as well. We’ve sought suggestions based on their experiences. We are seriously working on this issue,” CEC Nasir said.

The CEC said when they (Canadian diplomats) wanted to know the election preparation and if this commission will be able to deliver the next election properly, the commission informed details about the preparation.

He said they wanted to know about the areas where they can assist the Election Commission.