Free, fair elections possible under present EC: Bernicat

The outgoing US Ambassador to Bangladesh Marcia Bernicat on Thursday expressed optimism that holding the upcoming city corporations polls and also the next national election in a free, fair and credible manner is possible under the present Election Commission.

“I’m always an optimistic person and I think, that free, fair and credible elections would be possible under the present Election Commission,” she told reporters, after a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda at Nirbachon Bhaban in city’s Agargaon.

She said, “Bangladesh bears a past history of holding a free and fair election and I think Bangladesh will always continue to work towards attaining that goal.”

“We talked about a wide range of issues, involving elections,” Bernicat said and emphasized on how to promote credible elections.

The US envoy, who was criticized for her comments on Bangladesh election, said criticism is a part and parcel of healthy democracy. “Freedom of speech is a fundamental right and this is guaranteed in both the constitutions of the two countries. That’s the beauty of democracy.” She added.

Later, Secretary of the EC Secretariat Helaluddin Ahmed said that during the meeting they discussed about all out preparations of the upcoming three city corporation polls.

Source: bss