The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The international election observers are unanimous in their view that the December 29 parliamentary election, which heralded Bangladesh's return to democracy after two years of military-backed rule, was fair and credible one. The voting was the most peaceful and spontaneous in decades, observers said at different press conferences in the city yesterday and urged the opposition to accept the results.

In Monday's election, the grand alliance led by Awami League won a landslide victory, capturing 262 of 299 seats. The coalition led by BNP won only 32 seats.

Commonwealth Observer Group for Bangladesh parliamentary elections did not find any evidence to justify BNP's claim that the election was held under a "blueprint".

"We don't have any evidence of election engineering; I believe that other national and international observers also did not find such evidence," Chair of the Commonwealth Observer Group Cassem Uteem said.

Responding to a question, Uteem hoped that the opposition in the new parliament would play their democratic role for the welfare of the society with constructive criticism.

He stated that the elections had been credible, meeting many of the key benchmarks for democratic elections, and represented a crucial step in the continuing effort to strengthen democracy and improve governance in the country.

Head of the EU observer mission Alexander Lambsdorff praised Bangladesh's general elections as "correct and professional."

"The high turn out and the up to now peaceful conduct raise hopes that a return to democracy is possible in Bangladesh," he said.

Now it was important that the new government led by the Awami League of Sheikh Hasina operated with a "sense of proportion," Lambsdorff said.

Furthermore, the opposition had to accept the election outcome, said the German member of the European Parliament, he added.

Lambsdorff further said Khaleda Zia's remarks of vote rigging had been "regrettable."

The United States, United Kingdom, Australia, India and other friendly nations of Bangladesh also welcomed the successful polls.

"All Bangladeshis can take great pride in the success of these elections," said a State Department statement. "The high voter turnout underscores the people's desire to see democracy restored as well to have a voice in their future.

Britain said Bangladeshi people could be proud of holding the ninth parliamentary polls in a "free, fair and peaceful" way.

In a statement, the UK's secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs David Miliband also urged the ruling party and the opposition to work together for nation building, shunning politics of confrontation and violence.

About allegations of "unprecedented rigging" by BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, mission chief of the Washington-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) said, "We have had discussions with other observers and it was an unanimous decision that the election was free and fair."

"The (election) process appears to have yielded a result that accurately reflects the will of Bangladeshi voters," said Constance Berry Newman, the head of a 65-person delegation from the International Republican Institute, a Washington-based group that promotes democracy.

Newman said, "Political parties, candidates and citizens should accept the results and work together for a peaceful transition of power."

The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) said the election was conducted with credibility and they do not believe some isolated breaches of electoral laws affected the overall poll process.

"Our observers have reported some isolated breaches of electoral laws, but we don't believe these incidents affected the overall election process," said ANFREL head of mission Damaso Magbual.

The Election Commission fostered a peaceful and inclusive election environment, which attracted a strong and enthusiastic voter turnout, ANFREL said.