Following an invitation from the Caretaker Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Election Commission, the European Union has established an Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) to observe the 9th Parliamentary elections held on 29 December 2008.
The election was originally scheduled to take place on 22 January 2007. However, one of the main party alliances decided to boycott the elections on the grounds that the Caretaker Government, headed was favouring its main opponent. On 11 January 2007, the EU EOM and other international observer missions judged that conditions precluded credible elections and suspended their activities.
The same day, the president cancelled the elections and declared a state of emergency wich curtailed fundamental rights. After weeks of political crisis, the ban on political party activity was gradually relaxed and the emergency rule restrictions on the freedoms of speech and expression were lifted.
In the light of the restoration of fundamental rights which make it possible to carry out election observation, Dr Benita Ferrero-Waldner decided to deploy a full European Union Election Observation Mission to Bangladesh and make an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the electoral process.
This example shows the importance of international electoral observation and the impact it could play on the electoral process.
