Staff Correspondent

The European Union (EU) wants to see that Bangladesh will hold a democratic, credible, peaceful and participatory election.

EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley expressed his optimism to this end while talking to reporters after a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal and other Election Commissioners on Wednesday.

“We just had a very wonderful meeting with CEC Kazi Habibul Awal, other Election Commissioners and his team. We had a wide range of discussions regarding the preparation of the election,” he said.

“We learned more insight into the preparation of the election. There was an open discussion with the CEC and his team,” the EU Ambassador said.

Led by EU Ambassador Charles Whiteley, the election expert mission of the EU conducted the meeting with CEC Kazi Habibul Awal and his team at the Election Commission Secretariat at Agargaon in the capital.

The 10-member EU mission includes EU Deputy Head Dr Bernd Spanier, Political Officer Sebastian Riger-Brown, Sweden Ambassador Alexandra Berg Von Linde, Spain Ambassador Francisco de Asis Benitez Salas, Italy Ambassador Antonio Alessandro, Netherlands Ambassador Irma van Dueren, Danish Ambassador Christian Brix Moller, Embassy of France Deputy Chief Gillaume Audren de Kerdrel and German Deputy Ambassador Jan Janowski.

Earlier, a six-member exploratory election mission of the EU visited Bangladesh in July and held meetings with the Election Commission and political parties.

The EU in October said it would send a five-member team to observe the 12th parliamentary election in Bangladesh slated for 7 January, 2024.