Dispatch of Election Observation Mission for the General Election in Bangladesh

December 24, 2008

Upon the invitation of the Government of Bangladesh, Japan will dispatch an election observation mission to Bangladesh from December 28 (Sun) to December 30 (Tue) to support holding of a fair general election to be held on December 29 (Mon). The mission consists of seven members including two members of the House of Representatives, Mr. Goji Sakamoto (Head of the Mission), Senior Secretary-General of the Japan-Bangladesh Parliamentarians’ League, and Mr. Akihiro Nishimura, Secretary-General of the League.
In Bangladesh, the mission will observe the voting and counting, hold talks with high officials of the Bangladeshi government and political party members, and exchange views and information with other election observation missions.
Besides Mr. Sakamoto and Mr. Nishimura, the mission also includes Mr. Matsushiro Horiguchi, visiting professor of Waseda Graduate School and former Ambassador to Bangladesh, and Mr. Masaaki Ohashi, professor of Keisen University and President of the Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation, Mr. Kazuhiko Aiba, professor at Tokushima University and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.

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