13th Parliamentary Election Among the Fairest in History, Speaker Hafiz Uddin Tells EU Delegation
National Parliament Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad Bir Bikram has described the 13th national parliamentary election as one of the freest, most acceptable and fairest elections in Bangladesh's history. He made the remarks during a meeting with a delegation on Tuesday (November 3).
The speaker said election observer teams from various countries around the world, including the European Union, had praised the election as highly fair. Through this election, he said, democracy has been re-established in the country.
He spoke during a meeting with a delegation of the European Union in Bangladesh, the European Partnership for Democracy and the Bangladesh Society for the Change and Advocacy Nexus (B-SCAN). Relevant EU representatives in Bangladesh and officials of the National Parliament Secretariat were present at the meeting.
The speaker said that over a long 17 years, the Awami League government had plundered the country's democracy through injustice, oppression and extrajudicial killings. Through the July 2024 mass uprising, he said, the country's democratic journey began again.
He added that real development in a country is not possible without democracy.
During the meeting, members of the delegation discussed ensuring the voting rights of persons with disabilities in Bangladesh's electoral process, increasing their participation in elections and their overall political representation.
They also gave their views on ensuring representation of persons with disabilities in the work of the constitution amendment committee and on making parliamentary debates easier for hearing-impaired persons to hear and understand.
The European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) and B-SCAN are jointly working in Bangladesh to ensure the voting rights and electoral participation of persons with disabilities.
