Chief election commissioner KM Nurul Huda said on Thursday that the United States had lessons learn from Bangladesh about the election process.
‘America cannot complete vote counting in four-five days. We do it in EVM from four-five minutes to 10 minutes declaring it [the result] in the centre. They [United States] should learn from us,’ Huda said after casting his vote at IES School and College polling centre in Dhaka-18 by-polls.
‘America does not have it. In their 250 years of democratic experience they could not do it. They do not have any central election commission. It happens in county level, in 13,000 counties, according to their law,’ he said.
The CEC, however, underscored that Bangladesh’s Election Commission, public and journalists, have also lessons to learn from the country.
‘America has a culture of election 150 years before its independence. We have also lessons to learn from the USA, Europe, no doubt we take a good lesson from any place,’ he said.
The CEC was referring to the recent presidential election of the United States, where several states took three to four days to complete vote counting.
Voting in the by-elections to Dhaka-18 and Sirajganj-1 parliamentary constituencies got underway through electronic voting machines on Thursday amid low turnaround.
A total of eight candidates from six political parties including ruling Awami League and BNP are contesting in the constituencies.
