As the 12th Parliamentary Election is going to be held on Sunday, January 7, 2024 in Bangladesh, Andrei Shutov, head of a three-member delegation of Russian election observers, told TASS News Agency correspondent, quoting Kazi Habibul Awal, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) that several Western states, including the United States, are trying to influence the course and results of the general parliamentary elections in Bangladesh.
“It is important for Bangladesh to ensure the implementation of the principle of legitimacy of elections. Especially given the attempts by some states, primarily from the West, led by the United States, to influence the election process, interfere in it and affect the results – through non-profit organizations, through their proteges, with the help of considerable funding”, Andrei Shutov said.
Shutov said, “Bangladesh is not the only country where such activities are being carried out. Since the country, which has declared itself a hegemon, the leader of the world order, is trying to influence the electoral processes around the world. And Bangladesh is not an exception here”.
“Bangladesh is a young state, founded in 1971, but it already has a stable political system with various political parties, with each having its own electorate and supporters. The political process here is dynamically developing, and it is based on the local cultural code and traditions. Therefore, the way how the Bangladeshi electoral system is working is of great interest to foreign observers, including us”, he added.
Andrei Shutov said, “Tomorrow [January 7] at the elections we will see this system in action. This is important for us, especially amid the attempts by some countries to export their models in disregard of local culture, traditions and customs”.
In the upcoming general parliamentary elections on January 7, the incumbent Prime Minister of Bangladesh, president of the Awami League Sheikh Hasina seeks re-election for the fourth consecutive term. The main opposition force is the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which has been actively campaigning for the resignation of the incumbent prime minister since last summer.
It may be mentioned here that a delegation of three election observers from Russia has arrived in Bangladesh to monitor the general parliamentary elections to be held on January 7, 2024. Andrei Shutov, the head of the delegation and a member of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, told TASS in a phone call that the elections in Bangladesh are a matter of interest for the whole world.
“Three Russian observers have arrived today. These elections are of great interest. Currently about 200 representatives of foreign countries have already been registered here”, Shutov said.
He added that the current Bangladesh government demonstrates the transparency of the electoral system and aims at ensuring transparency principle of the electoral process in order to show that the elections are transparent and legitimate.
“We will be actively monitoring polling stations and visit several of them in Dhaka to see how voting is going on. We will observe the activities of various political parties and voters as well as the organization of the electoral process at each polling station. In other words, we will monitor all the parameters of the voting process”, Shutov said.
He added that the Russian delegation has become the first election observers in Bangladesh of the current composition of the Russian Central Election Commission. “We have wide experience in providing international election observation, we have visited a number of countries and are ready to use the accumulated experience in order to estimate the election results in Bangladesh. We also plan to communicate with our colleagues, international observers, from the CIS countries, China and the others”, Shutov said.
