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| ^ Sanshad Bhaban, the seat of the parliament of Bangladesh (photo courtesy of NDI) |
Australia's Parliamentary Secretary for International Development, the Hon Bob McMullan MP, was an observer at the breakthrough Bangladesh elections in December 2008. The elections have led to the formation of a new single-party government headed by Sheik Hasina, whose secular Awami League party won 230 out of a possible 300 seats in parliament.
The elections represent a major political advance for Bangladesh. As Mr McMullan notes in the attached op-ed on the subject, "The legitimacy of this election, and broader issue of a transition to democracy, matters to Australia and the world. If it is successfully managed, Bangladesh will be one of the largest democracies in the world. With a population of 140 million, its future matters. Furthermore, it will join countries such as Indonesia and Turkey as large, peaceful and moderate Islamic democracies."
CDI has been assisting the Bangladesh parliament over the past year. Five Bangladeshi officials attended the 2008 Effective Parliamentary Committee Inquiries course, and CDI is currently looking at ways in which we may be able to extend our parliamentary assistance work to Bangladesh, possibly in cooperation with the National Democratic Institute, which organised the election observation.
Click on these links for the observers' report and Mr McMullan's op-ed:
