The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

A three-member high-level team from the United Nations would visit Bangladesh Sunday to scrutinize the staging of parliamentary elections next month, the UN has said.

"The panel is tasked with assessing the preparations and conduct of the elections through visits to Bangladesh before and during the elections," said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson in a statement in New York on Friday.

The panel begins its first visit to Bangladesh on Sunday and returns for about a week around the time of the election, before reporting back to Ban Ki-moon with its key findings and recommendations.

The caretaker government had asked UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon to send a high-level panel in an effort to ensure that the elections are free and fair.

Parliamentary polls are scheduled to take place on December 18, an election the government has pledged to be the fairest in the country's history.

Francesc Vendrell, the secretary-general's former personal representative for Afghanistan and European Union envoy to the same country, will head the UN panel. The other members are Bhojraj Pokharel, Nepal's chief election commissioner, and Aracelly Santana, the former deputy director of the UN Electoral Assistance Division.

While visiting Bangladesh earlier this month, Ban Ki-moon described the upcoming polls as an "historic opportunity" for the country.

"It is in the world's-and your-best interest to see Bangladesh achieve its full potential for democratic development through free and credible elections," he told reporters at his pre-departure press conference.

"Now is the moment to stand against polarization and violence that have characterized past elections," the secretary-general had said.