Bangladesh: Legal Framework
3 October 2012
Legal Framework Module Bangladesh Election Commission 3 – 5 September 2012.
The Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC) has adopted BRIDGE as a key component of developing the capacity of its staff and the organisation as a whole. With the support of UNDP the BEC is conducting an ambitious BRIDGE program throughout 2012, including 11 BRIDGE workshops plus two TtFs.
The Legal framework module was conducted with almost all senior officers from the BEC. Only 3 senior officers were not able to take part. The module gave these senior officers an opportunity to spend 3 days together focused on the legal framework for elections in Bangladesh. The conclusion by all was that the legal framework for elections in Bangladesh was essentially very sound. The challenge for the BEC and other stakeholders is not in the law but in the implementation. Another key conclusion of the module was the need to develop a code of conduct with and for the media and the Election Commission.
Each module being conducted in and for the BEC is an opportunity for the semi-accredited facilitators who had participated in the TtF conducted earlier in the year to progress towards full accreditation. The two semi-accredited facilitators working on this module were Md. Anwar Hossain and Mohammed Al-Mamun, both from the BEC.