There are 540 foreign observers and 48 media workers from Pakistan

desk

2026-02-09

The Election Commission has given information about 540 foreign observers and journalists coming to watch the thirteenth national election and referendum.

On Monday, the Commission's press release provided information on who can come as observers from which countries; Among them there are 150 people from various foreign media including BBC, Reuters, AP and Al Jazeera.

Among the journalists, 48 ​​people will come from different media organizations of Pakistan and 7 people will come to collect news from Al Jazeera. However, the information about how many people will come from India was not mentioned in the EC press release.

According to EC, about 60 people are coming from election commissions and election-related institutions of different countries on the invitation of Bangladesh Election Commission. About 330 international observers are coming from various international organizations and election observation agencies. About 150 foreign journalists are coming from 45 international media organizations.

Among those who are coming at the invitation of the Election Commission, are the Chief Election Commissioners of Bhutan and Nigeria, the Chairman of the Election Commission of Malaysia and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) in South Korea.

According to the Election Commission, apart from this, an observation team of 10 members including six parliamentarians and Supreme Election Council officials from Turkey, five delegations each from Malaysia, Indonesia and Nigeria and senior officials including commissioners of the Election Commission of the Philippines, Georgia, Russia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Indonesia, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Iran are coming to observe the election.

The EC said that about 150 foreign journalists have arrived to cover the news of the referendum and parliamentary elections, including 48 journalists from various Pakistani media organizations, 7 journalists from Al Jazeera, including representatives of the Japanese news agency NHK, BBC News, Associated Press, Reuters, ABC Australia and Deutsche Welle, and journalists from Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia and India.

On the other hand, the EC has given information about the arrival of around 330 international observers from various international organizations and election monitoring organizations in the election monitoring. Of these, 223 are in the EU-led monitoring team.

Besides, 25 observers from the Commonwealth, 28 observers from the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFRL), 12 observers from the International Republican Institute (IRI) and about 30 observers from other organizations have come to observe the election on their own accord, the organization organizing the election said in the notification.

The Commission says, “The visa-related arrangements for foreign invited guests, journalists and observers have already been completed. The Election Commission of Bangladesh has taken all necessary measures so that foreign journalists and observers can observe the election and referendum independently and impartially.”

Earlier, the government waived the visa fee for foreign observers.

Meanwhile, the European Union's election monitoring team has been fully deployed since Tuesday. The European Union Monitoring Mission has informed that the short-term election observers will be dispersed in different parts of the country on this day.

According to the mission's press release, the European Union Election Observation Mission has reached full capacity with the addition of 200 observers from the 27 EU member states, including Canada, Norway and Switzerland.

“Currently all short-term observers are undergoing training in Dhaka, where they are being briefed on election day proceedings, vote counting and monitoring procedures for the compilation of results.”

“90 short-term observers from Europe and 35 international observers from the EU diplomatic community and partner countries have broadened the scope of this mission,” the release said, highlighting their nationwide deployment from Tuesday.

“A core team of 11 analysts has been in the country since the end of December last year. And 56 long-term observers have been working in 64 administrative districts since mid-January. On election day, EU observers will monitor polling, counting and results in various towns, cities and villages.”

On February 14, the chief observer of the European Union, Evers Eyabs, will present the initial report of the mission through a press conference in Dhaka.

bdnews

Bangladesh /MP