The US pre-election assessment mission has made five recommendations as a roadmap for progress toward credible, inclusive, participatory, and nonviolent elections.

The recommendations include moderating rhetoric and engaging in open and substantive dialogue on key election issues, protecting freedom of expression and ensuring an open civic space where dissent is respected.

The mission also suggested commitment to nonviolence and holding perpetrators of political violence accountable, creating conditions to allow all parties to engage in meaningful political competition, including bolstering independent election management and promoting a culture of inclusive and active electoral participation among citizens.

The joint mission of the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) visited Bangladesh from October 8 to 11 to provide an independent and impartial assessment of electoral preparations for Bangladesh's upcoming 12th parliamentary elections and offer recommendations that could help improve the prospects for inclusive, transparent, and peaceful elections and public confidence in the process.

To develop these recommendations, the delegation met with government officials, the Election Commission; party leaders from across the political spectrum; civil society representatives; current and former women members of parliament; representatives of organisations engaging with youth, persons with disabilities and religious minorities; media representatives; members of the legal community; and representatives of the international and diplomatic communities.

Following the visit, it issued a statement today.

It said Bangladesh's robust economic growth and strong tradition of democratic values have set a strong foundation for the country to achieve its 2041 vision of becoming a developed country.

However, the current political environment presents several challenges to electoral integrity, including uncompromising and zero-sum politics, highly charged rhetoric, political violence, a widespread climate of uncertainty and fear, contracting civic space and freedom of expression, and a trust deficit among citizens, political leaders, and other stakeholders.

Women, youth, and other marginalised groups also face significant barriers to participation. Bangladesh is at a crossroads and the upcoming elections provide a litmus test of the country's commitment to a democratic, participatory, and competitive political process, the statement said

"We appreciate all those who shared their views freely about the challenges and opportunities that exist in Bangladesh for holding inclusive, participatory, and nonviolent elections," said Bonnie Glick.

"We came away from these conversations with concerns about the election environment, but hopeful that our recommendations can help to improve the process.

"We feel the primary problem is lack of constructive engagement among key political actors," said Karl Inderfurth.

"The best way to end the stalemate is through good faith dialogue, in the run-up to the January 2024 elections and beyond."

The delegation recognises that it is the people of Bangladesh who will ultimately determine the credibility and legitimacy of their elections and their country's democratic development. The delegation therefore offers this pre-election statement in the spirit of supporting and strengthening democratic institutions in Bangladesh.

Members of the joint delegation included Bonnie Glick (IRI co-chair), former deputy USAID administrator; Karl F. Inderfurth (NDI co-chair), former assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs; Maria Chin Abdullah, former member of the House of Representatives, Malaysia; Jamil Jaffer, former associate counsel to the president of the United States; Johanna Kao, IRI senior director, Asia-Pacific division; and Manpreet Singh Anand, NDI regional director, Asia-Pacific. The delegates were joined by technical and country experts from NDI and IRI.