IRI to Send Long-Term Election Observers to Bangladesh

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 28, 2006

Washington, D.C. - The International Republican Institute (IRI) is preparing to send a 12-member international long-term election observation mission to monitor the pre-election environment in Bangladesh in the weeks leading up to and just after the parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held on January 22, 2007.

The IRI-sponsored observation mission will meet with leaders and officials from political parties and domestic and international nongovernmental organizations, as well as with government officials, election administrators, and Bangladeshi citizens. The mission will assess the political environment and the state of administrative preparations for the election. This information will be used to advise IRI’s leadership and the U.S. Agency for International Development on the planning of IRI’s international Election Day observers.

The findings of the international long-term observation mission will be incorporated into IRI’s final election observation report to be released following Election Day.

In November, IRI sent a pre-election assessment team to Bangladesh (IRI Sends Pre-Election Assessment Mission to Bangladesh). The team observed technical preparations for the upcoming elections, prepared for the long-term election observers and prepared for a delegation of international election observers that IRI expects to send for Election Day.

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