Foreign election observers at separate press conferences in the city yesterday called on die political parties, including ONE to accept the December 29 election results and attend the parliament for a strengthening democracy in the country.

They said the elections were held in a free, fair and trans[>arent manner in the favourable envi -ronment and marked an impor tant step towards rc-cstablislting democratic governance.

The winners would have to be magnanimous and would play a role in accommodating the opposition parties to help diem play a constructive role in the parliament, die observers added.

EUEOM

Releasing its preliminary findings. EUEOM's Chief Observer Graf Lambsdorff said with die exception of some minor technical difficulties, professionalism, transparency and credibility were the hallmarks of the elections.

About BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's claim that the election results do not reflect

EUEOM Chief Observer Graf Lambsdorff speaks at a press conference.

people's will, Lambsdorff said the results were accurate and they found no instance of fraud in the election process and resultcounting.

About the allegations of irregularities in the polling centres, he said, “There can be some irregularities in some centres and that should be investigated, but the number out of the around 35,000 polling centres where irregularities were alleged is very small and it will not affect the results of the elections."

The EUEOM assessed the elections were conducted in a remarkably peaceful environment with high turnout ofvoters.

Praising the caretaker gov-ernment and Election Commission, the EUEOM chief said. “There was no instance of bias to any party by the government The EC also deserves high marks and it is well deserved for preparing the voter list, printing ballot papers in a very short period of time, the performance of presiding officers and vote counting."

“Deputy speaker and parliamentary committees' chairmen can come from the opposition party,” he added.

COMMONWEALTH

Unveiling its interim statement on the elections. Commonwealth Observer Group Chairman said they have not found any evidence to support the allegation of election engineering on Monday's elections.

“We haven't found any such evidence to support the claim with what the results could be denied, rather, we have found that the elections were credible and met many of the benchmarks for democratic elections to which Bangladesh has committed itself," said Cassam Uteem, chairperson of the observer group.

The group hoped that BNP-led four-party alliance would play an effective role in the parliament and bring constructive criticism for the well-

Commonwealth Observer Group chief Cassam Uteem addresses a press conference.

being of die country as well as its people.

Cassam said, “It is time for leaders on all sides to grasp this opportunity and display statesmanship with political forces, whether they are a future government or opposition. working in a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation to address the challenges facing the country."

ND1

Presenting a preliminary statement on the polls, international election observer delegation of NDI said the 9th parliamentary elections were well administered and held in a peaceful environment.

“With a few exceptions, the elections were well administered and took place in a peace -ful environment, resulting in a credible electoral process that met international standards," said delegation member Audrey McLaughlin, also a former leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada.

Asked about the BNP allegation, delegation co-chair and former US envoy in Dhaka Howard B Schaffer said, "We haven't observed any specific allegation brought by BNP. Apart from our election observers, we talked to other observers who unanimously said the elections were free and fair.”

Giving some recommendations. the NDI delegation said, BNP should accept the election

NDI Delegation Co-chair Howard B Schaffer addresses a press conference.

results for the sake of strengthening democracy in the country.

“The opposition should accept the results, attend die parliament and be loyal to the constitution," said Howard, adding that it would be a tragic mistake if die elected parties simply carry on with die winner-take-all approach, use of black money and muscle power and hartal culture would come back again.

Praising die EC's reforms diat benefited the electoral process, Audrey said, "More than 80 million Bangladeshis were registered to vote in a process that produced the most accurate voter list in die country's history."

The NDI delegation said a successful transition requires all the parties to abandon the dysfunctional practices of the past.

“Both the winner and opposition will have to act respectfully and responsibly for die sake of strengthening the country’s democracy," said Audrey McLaughlin and observed that the December 29 election provided the

ANFREL Head of Mission Damaso Magbual speaks at a press conference.

Bangladeshi people with a meaningful opportunity to select their leaders.

ANFREL FOUNDATION ANFREL, an election observer in Asia in another press briefing said the December 29 elections were conducted with integrity and credibility excepting some isolated breaches of electoral laws.

Praising the measures taken by the EC, caretaker government, civil society groups and other stakeholders, ANFREL Head of Mission Damaso Magbual said they fostered a peaceful and inclusive election environment which attracted a high turnout of voter.

He expressed his concern about the apparent breakdown of security in at least two areas of Chittagong division.