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EU gives clean report on JS polls

Staff Correspondent
The European Union Election Observer Mission (EU EOM) has rejected allegations of armed forces' influence in the ninth parliamentary election, or of any mechanism or intimidation from any quarter to manipulate polling.
The EU EOM in ns final report on the election released yesterday said the poll was held in a free and fair manner, and there was no rigging in it.
The EU mission also brushed aside allegations of different political parties that the Election Commission (EC) was biased, and it did not act neutrally in holding the election.
I heard the so called rumours of certain mechanism. We invited those who had raised the rumours to come forward with evidence, and our mission was here (in Bangladesh) till January 16. We were here more than two weeks after the election." said Alexander Graff Lambsdorff. chief of the EU EOM, while releasing the report at a press conference at a city hotel.
"I saw that the security forces created an environment that generally speaking did nothing to intimidate the voters around and inside the poling stations. I could not see any intimidation
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or influence," he said.
"The election was not rigged." Lambsdorff said in reply to a question on Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad's allegation that the Awami League-led alliance could never win the national election with-< out th" armed forces' backing,
'I have met General Er shad on a number of occasions. 1 have on behalf of our mission extended to him and the representatives of the party, the same invitations that I extended to everybody else to come forward with any kind of evidence that they may have for such allegations," he said.
"As long as they do not come up with solid evidence to corroborate the rumours, our verdict stands, this election was not rigged,' he added.
Asked about the BNP-led opposition’s allegation that the EC is biased and not neutral, Lambsdorff said the commission performed its job in a neutral way.
'One of the most remarkable achievements of the last national election was that it took place in a remarkable peaceful environment. There were some violence but they were really minor,' he said.
The EU EOM deployed the largest international ooserva-“on mission in Bangladesh with
150 observers from 25 EU member- states plus Norway and Switzerland.
The outcome of the election appears to reflect the will of the people of Bangladesh, and EU EOM did not find fraud in the process, it said in its report
On the EC, the report said it discharged most of its responsibilities in a transparent and responsible manner. And in general, its planning and execution of most electoral activities were timely and well conducted.
BNP’s DEFEAT
The report said the uncertainty which lingered unul a latestage about whether BNP would contest the election at all arguably did not help the party in getting ready for the polls.
Howewr, a commonly held view was that the vote reflected the electorate s judgment on the past BNP-led government's records while in office during 2001-2006, and the reputation of rnal-govemance and nepotism that it suffered from.
AL'sVICTORY
Awami League, untainted by such mistakes, offered a more credible alternative, which included an appealing promise to reduce food prices, a pressing concern for the majority of households in the light of recent years’ spiralling prices, the
EU EOM report said.