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last moment if they would include their Bangladeshi employees in the election observer teams.
“There was a meeting today [yesterday] morning and it was decided that local staffers would not be kept with the observer teams,” the official told The Daily Star.
“There was dissatisfaction over the issue, but they [diplomats] did not express it,” he said, wishing anonymity.
The EC approved the names of 74 officials -- 46 foreigners and 28 Bangladeshis -- from 10 foreign missions in Dhaka for inclusion in foreign observer teams.
The officials are from missions of the US, the UK, the European Union, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan, Denmark, Norway, Canada, and Australia.
On Thursday, the foreign ministry wrote to the missions in Dhaka, saying it would be highly appreciated if they do not include their local employees, who are Bangladeshi citizens, in teams of foreign observers.
The ministry said it was a violation of electoral code of conduct to include the Bangladeshi citizens, who are employed in the foreign missions, in the international observer teams.
As the confusion mounted, Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda on Friday evening said Bangladeshi nationals working at foreign missions in Dhaka and international organisations would be able to work as local observers, not as foreign observers, in the elections to Dhaka south and north city corporations.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday criticised the EC for accepting the locals as foreign election observers, reports UNB.
“...This isn’t right. There are many Bangladeshis working at foreign missions here …They [foreign missions] have appointed them [Bangladeshis] as foreign election observers …This is outrageous!” she told reporters after casting her vote at Dhaka City College centre.
PM flies
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In the evening, she will attend a community event at Parco dei Principi Grand Hotel.
On February 5, the PM will inaugurate the Chancery Building of Bangladesh Embassy at Via Dell’Antartide in Rome, Italy.
After that, she will hold her bilateral talks with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte at Palazzo Chigi and join the official lunch.
In the afternoon, high officials of Italian business companies will meet her at Parco dei Principi Grand Hotel.
In the evening, she will attend a dinner to be hosted by the Bangladesh Ambassador.
On February 6, Pope Francis will give audience to Sheikh Hasina. After that, she will leave Rome for Milan.
On February 7, she will leave Milan for Dhaka by Emirates Airlines from Milan Malpensa International Airport at 1:40pm (local time).
She will arrive at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) on February 8.