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Polls free and fair: C’wealth observers

By Staff Correspondent
The Commonwealth observer group has described Wednesday's parliamentary elections as free and fair saying in its initial assessment that the election is a historic milestone in nation building and creation of democratic institutions.
Chairman of the Group Dato K. Pathmanaban, told a news conference at Dhaka Sheraton on Thursday that the election was not only an outstanding achievement of the Acting President. the Election Commission and all others responsible. but also a triumph of the people.
Another group of election observers from the Japanese
Diet (parliament) gave a similar assessment when it called on Acting President Justlrc Shahabuddln Ahmed. The Commonwealth group also saw the Acting President on Thursday giving him Its Initial assessment
The Japanese group will announce Its Initial assessment report at a news conference at Sonargaon Hotel this (Friday) morning.
Meanwhile, in Its initial statement the Bangladesh Mukta Nlrbachan Andolan' (Bangladesh movement for free elections) said that the election was generally violence-free. marked by widespread and spontaneous enthusiasm among voters and adherence to rules governing the elections.
The leader of the Commonwealth group said events of the past weeks demonstrated that the people of Bangladesh are committed to the democratic process. The election being free and fair would be even more important than the results' because ‘whatever the results as between the political parties, the people arc the ultimate winners'.
The Group's twelve members visited some 300 polling centres in over 60 constituencies. The team will submit a full report to the Commonwealth Secretary General who will submit the same to Bangladesh authorities. political leaders, as well as Commonwealth government.
Dato K. Pathmanaban said, we were struck by the care-taker government, specifically established to conduct this election, and at the lengths it went to manifest its neutrality'. The role of the security forces was Impressive, he said.
He said we were impressed by the efficiency and dedication of election officials at all levels, as well as the cooperation among party agents.
The voter turnout, and large participation of women voters was 'clear evidence of the success of the Administration and the Election Commission in rehabilitating national election process which in the eyes of most had been wholly discredited, he said.
Given the size of the task, and particularly the legacy of the past it is quite remarkable that repotting may prove to be necessary in only a handful of the 24000 polling centres', the Commonwealth group observed.
Replying to a question the leader of the Group said Irreg-ularities that were noticed could only be termed as 'sporadic' and that the main weakness of the electoral process was 'imperfections in the electoral roll' prepared under the previous government.
Answering another ques^fe he said the group decided to give an initial assessment as soon as possible so that its views could not be influenced by electoral developments, and to meet demands of pressmen.
He told another questioner that it was not possible for the administration to influence the election as it was the central will of the people and the government to make the election free and fair.
The group was invited by the interim government.
BSS adds: a nine-member Japan-Bangladesh parliamentary friendship delegation called on Awami league chief Sheikh Hasina at Bangabandhu Bhaban Thursday afternoon.
The delegation was accom-panied by the Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh, Takeo Iguchi.
The members of the delegation, during their talks with Sheikh Haslna, recalled the contributions of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in cementing the friendship be tween the two countries.
The leader of the delegation extended an invitation to Slicikh Haslna to visit Japan at a convenient date. Sheikh Haslna thanked the leader for the invitation.
Earlier, a team of the SAARC delegation visiting Bangladesh to observe the poll activities also called on Sheikh Haslna.
Sheikh Hasina told the delegation that her party was committed to establish democracy in the country. She also narrated various types of poll irregularities which took place in Wednesday's election.