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The United States (US) is not concerned about participation of any particular party in Bangladesh’s next elections but it wants the polls to be fair and held in a congenial environment, a senior visiting State Department official has said, reports BSS.
“We are not making a comment on whether or not elections are participatory, more we are focused on electoral environment (in Bangladesh),” US Deputy Assistant Secretary Afreen Akhter told this news agency on Saturday in the capital.
Afreen Akhter added “Ultimately it is up to (political) parties themselves to decide” if they would participate in the elections and “again we are not commenting whether it (requires to be) participatory”.
She said her country was “not interfering or weighing in with any particular party or candidate” though “we are working to support the electoral environment here”.
Akhter’s comments came as asked if BNP or any other particular party’s election participation would concern Washington.
“Let me emphasize that the US does not support any political party, any candidate, any individual” Akhter said adding “we are not seeking to mediate in your (Bangladesh) election (either)”.
She currently serves in the US state department Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs (SCA) for Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and the Maldives.
The US official said being a democracy itself the US supports democracies worldwide as it believes the democratic system of government is the best one while this principle prompts her country to support civil societies and democratic institutions across the globe.
The US state department official said Washington has decided to send a pre-election observer mission to Bangladesh in the coming months but could not confirm exact timeframe of the mission’s tour, she added.
The US official said on receipt of the US pre-election observer mission report, Washington would make an assessment and decide if it would send an observer team in Bangladesh during the upcoming election.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul
