Bangladesh: Paving the Way for Parliamentary Elections

Bangladesh: Paving the Way for Parliamentary Elections
Source: Press Statement
Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesman
US Department of State
Washington, DC
March 19, 2008

The United States urges the Bangladesh government to uphold its commitment to hold free, fair, and transparent elections by December 2008, as reaffirmed in the joint statement issued on March 18, 2008, by Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, Chief Advisor of the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom. While the government's progress on updating the voter list and combating corruption is encouraging, we urge the government to move forward on its dialogue with political parties and to remove restrictions on freedoms of assembly and the press. Political parties must be able to participate fully in a democratic process.