Dhaka Tribune: What is EPD, and how does it work?
Michael Lidauer: EPD is a network of around 20 democracy-support organizations from across Europe, working globally to strengthen democratic systems.
Its activities include supporting human rights, media freedom, political party development, civil society engagement, and election processes.
Headquartered in Brussels, EPD operates in Bangladesh through the EU-funded AHEAD Bangladesh project and its Electoral Support Facility (ESF), focusing particularly on empowering citizen election observers.
Why does the European Union support citizen election observers in Bangladesh?
The European Union views election observation as a complementary process. International observers play an important role—they attract media attention, bring visibility, and often carry significant leverage with national audiences. Their presence helps draw global focus to the electoral process.
However, citizen election observers offer distinct advantages. They have a deeper understanding of local contexts, can access a far greater number of polling stations, and are more familiar with domestic political dynamics. As a result, their assessments tend to be more detailed and grounded, often producing more practical recommendations.
For the EU, supporting both international and domestic observers ensures a balanced and comprehensive evaluation of elections, combining international scrutiny with independent civil society participation.
Another key difference is continuity. International observation missions are time-bound—they arrive, observe, and then conclude their work. In contrast, the European Union’s engagement through the EU Delegation in Bangladesh is ongoing. Through partnerships with organizations such as the European Partnership for Democracy, the EU maintains sustained involvement with local institutions, including the Election Commission and civil society groups.
This longer-term engagement allows the EU not only to support the electoral process itself, but also to contribute to broader democratic development—including strengthening citizen election observation initiatives and supporting the implementation of recommendations.
As an election observer, you have worked in several countries, not only in Bangladesh. How did you assess the February 12, 2026 polls in Bangladesh?
First of all, I think the common understanding is that it was a genuinely competitive election, held freely, in which many people were able to participate, both among political stakeholders and voters, who turned out in large numbers to cast their ballots without disturbances.
Before the election, there were concerns about electoral violence. Despite some isolated incidents around polling day and afterwards, there was no large-scale violence. Peace was largely maintained.
I think it is also commonly acknowledged that women, especially in the political sphere, played only a marginal role because they were not nominated by the parties in sufficient numbers. This is something that clearly needs to be addressed further.
It has also been widely acknowledged that there are consistent problems, for example, with accessibility for persons with disabilities throughout the electoral process.
One of the new initiatives in this election was postal voting for the large number of diaspora voters, and I think this was a successful exercise. There is also room for further development. For example, persons with disabilities or climate-displaced voters could also be included in the postal voting process.
What should happen next, and how can it be ensured that the recommendations will be implemented?
We have to review all recommendations made by the EU, the Commonwealth, and citizen observers. We will sit down with the Election Commission and go through these recommendations together to find common ground, prioritize them, and follow up on implementation.
There will be some measures that are easier to implement because they are procedural. Some administrative tasks rely mostly on the technical willingness and skills of the Election Commission.
Other recommendations are more difficult to implement, such as those related to campaign finance, because they require political will.
In the case of legal changes to the Representation of the People Order (RPO), or other elements of the legal framework, parliamentary approval is required to make those changes.
So here, the Election Commission, civil society, and political stakeholders need to address these issues point by point.
These recommendations can help ensure continued attention to the electoral process and make future elections better and better.
What is your view of the reforms in Bangladesh since the election? Is Bangladesh on track to implement them?
When we look at the number of ordinances that have been passed, and those that have not been passed in Parliament since its inauguration, there are of course questions about whether the reform drive will continue. However, I think it is still early in the tenure of the new government to form a definitive opinion.
We have to see what reforms will continue, and how reform initiatives from the interim period will be carried forward, if at all.
Organizations like ours have followed these processes closely and will continue to observe how civic space develops around them.
What happens now that the election is over, and what are you looking forward to next?
We are looking forward to continuing our work with our election observation partners to consolidate the full body of recommendations and identify priority areas for follow-up. We also want to work with the Election Commission to see how these recommendations can be implemented. So, our work is not over.
Now, our attention turns to follow-up efforts and the upcoming local government elections in Bangladesh.
So we can say one task has been completed, but the next task has already begun.