Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh David Sproule on Thursday said the issue of caretaker government is not an agenda of the planned conference on election being organized by the ‘Tuesday Group’ in Dhaka later this year or early next year, reports UNB.

Sproule, who heads the ‘Tuesday Group’, a forum of western diplomats, said the recent news articles suggest that there might be some confusion about the “Conference on International Best Practices for Conduct of Free and Fair Parliamentary Elections.”

“The issue of caretaker government is not an agenda topic for the conference. Indeed, agenda topics to be discussed are technical in their nature and do not include discussion of any reform issues currently being proposed,” he said in a press statement.

The statement came as Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan Tuesday blasted the Tuesday Group’s move for holding the election conference, saying “no diplomatic norms allow any country to change the constitution of another country.”

Sproule said: “Let me say as an organizer of the conference that my Tuesday Group colleagues’ comments on caretaker government reforms have been strictly limited to urging the sponsors of the reforms and the government to meet and discuss the issue in parliament or elsewhere.”

He said: “None of our members has commented on the merits of the legal or constitutional reforms being proposed, and the caretaker system is simply not an agenda item for the Election Conference.”

The Tuesday Group members are: Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Republic of Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA, as well as the Ambassador of European Commission and the United Nations Resident Coordinator.

The Group, with the assistance of the Asia Foundation and the National Democratic Institute, is taking this initiative to facilitate a free and fair outcome at the next parliamentary elections in Bangladesh.

A summary description of the proposed conference said: It is vital for the future stability and prosperity of Bangladesh that the country’s next parliamentary elections meet international standards and the outcome be widely accepted by the electorate, political parties and the international community.

It said the Tuesday Group wishes, as friends of Bangladesh, to assist in this regard by organizing a high-level conference, which will discuss international best practices in the conduct of free and fair elections.

The conference will take as its starting point Bangladesh’s success in holding three successive elections, which were deemed to have been largely free and fair, and draw from this experience.

The conference, to held in November or December this year in Dhaka, is expected to include upwards of 400 invited guests, both domestic and international, representing parliament, the government, political parties, civil society, the business community, and the media.

“The conference, which will be primarily technical in nature, will be opened by a distinguished international figure known for his or her experience and role in promoting elections that meet international standards,” the summary description said.

Experts, both from home and abroad, will be invited to lead and participate in panel discussions.

The international best practices discussed will feature many of the requirements necessary for an election to be considered a genuine expression of the electorate’s wishes.

It said the conference would facilitate dialogue on how to consolidate and supplement existing electoral process.

The topics will include development of a reliable and transparent voter roll, listing and standards of conduct for candidates, management of polling centres, counting of votes and transmission and aggregation of results, and steps to prevent multiple voting.

The role of the media, civil society, and the Election Commission in raising awareness of voters’ electoral rights and informing the public about relevant policy issues will be examined.

The maintenance of public order and security before, during, and after elections is another important issue that will be considered.

It said domestic monitors and international observers in the past made a significant contribution to the integrity of parliamentary elections in Bangladesh and internationally. Their role will also be discussed at the conference.