Top electoral officials meet Bangladesh President ahead of announcing election schedule

DHAKA: Bangladesh's top electoral officials on Wednesday met President Mohammed Shahabuddin, who assured “optimum support and cooperation” to the Election Commission to conduct the February general elections in a "free, fair and meaningful" manner.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin met President Shahabuddin at his official residence, Bangabhaban, to discuss the overall preparations of the Commission and the announcement of the scheduled parliamentary elections and referendum, state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) reported.

“The President wanted to know the details of how the EC will organise the elections and the referendum on the same day, how the ballot papers are being prepared, what will be colour of ballot papers, how those will be provided to voters, how much time a voter would take to vote and what is the method of vote counting,” BSS quoted EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed as saying.

After the Election Commission informed the President in detail about all the issues, the President expressed satisfaction over the overall preparations of the Commission, he said.

Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Masud had said on Tuesday that the EC will announce the schedule of the elections after meeting the president.

Now that the meeting has happened, the EC is expected to announce the election schedule soon.

The EC secretary said the CEC's speech will be recorded at 4 pm today. To this end, a letter was sent to Bangladesh Television (BTV) and Bangladesh Betar earlier, the report said.

Former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has emerged as the frontrunner in the upcoming elections, with its former ally Jamaat-e-Islami and its right-wing Islamic allies being the main rival in the absence of deposed premier Sheikh Hasina’s disbanded Awami League.

Both parties have announced their nominees in the election for the 300-seat parliament.