Former Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding will lead a 10-person Commonwealth Expert Team (CET) assigned to observe the Bangladesh general elections scheduled for January 7, 2024.

The cross-functional team of experts was appointed by Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland, King’s Counsel, following an invitation from the Bangladesh Election Commission.

“The Commonwealth’s commitment to fostering peaceful, fair and credible elections is unwavering. Impartial and independent elections observers provide valuable recommendations to improve the elections process and strengthen the democratic processes,” a Commonwealth Secretariat news release quoted Scotland on Wednesday.

“The team’s deployment demonstrates the Commonwealth’s continued commitment to supporting electoral democracy in our 56-member countries and safeguarding the rights of the people of Bangladesh as they take part in these pivotal elections,” Scotland added.

She also expressed her gratitude to Golding, who will chair the CET, and to each of the eminent experts, drawn from across the Commonwealth, who will participate in the assignment.

The expert team will consider all aspects of the election process and provide their observations on whether the elections are conducted in line with the democratic standards to which Bangladesh has committed itself. The CET will also be supported by staff members from the Commonwealth Secretariat.

“It is my honour and privilege to have been asked to lead this team and to once again serve the Commonwealth. I am pleased to be collaborating with this expert team which, as is customary, includes experts from diverse backgrounds, countries and professions. In conducting our duties in Bangladesh, we pledge to remain objective, transparent and independent,” the release quoted Golding.

The Commonwealth Secretariat said that the CET will meet various stakeholders, including political parties, police, civil society groups, citizen observer and monitor groups, as well as representatives from the media.

From January 6, the team will also deploy in small groups around the country to observe electoral preparations in their respective areas. On election day, the team will observe the opening, voting, closing, counting and results management processes.

On December 20, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched her campaign for a fifth term as Opposition parties called for civil disobedience and said the January 7 polls would not be fair.

“If I can form government again, we will turn the entire of Bangladesh into a prosperous and developed country,” Hasina told reporters in the north-eastern city of Sylhet, kick-starting two weeks of campaigning ahead of the general elections.

“There will be no homeless and landless people,” she added, accompanied by ministers and top members of her ruling Awami League.

The 76-year-old is all but assured of winning the polls, with the Opposition decrying what they condemn as a “farcical” vote.

Hasina has overseen impressive economic growth since she took over the country of 170 million people in 2009, but activists say her iron-fisted rule has been marked by widespread human rights abuses, including thousands of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

The Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as well as Jamaat-e-Islami — the largest Islamist group — and dozens of smaller parties, say no election will be free and fair with Hasina in power.

“We urge the country’s people to stick to the demands for restoring democracy and boycott the farcical vote,” the BNP said in a statement.

The BNP has also called for civil disobedience across the country, asking people not to pay taxes and requesting election officials not to carry out their duties.

Opposition parties have been holding regular nationwide strikes and transport blockades to press demands for a vote under a neutral government, which Hasina has rejected as unconstitutional.

In addition to Golding, CET comprises:

Dr Samuel Azu’u Fonkam, former chairman, Elections Cameroon;

Sabyasachi Banerjee, advocate, Calcutta High Court, India;

Pauline Njoroge, digital media specialist, Kenya;

Jeffrey Salim Waheed, former deputy foreign minister, Maldives;

Professor Attahiru Jega, former chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Nigeria;

Hennah Joku, media specialist, Papua New Guinea;

Professor Weligama Vidana Arachchige Dinesha Samararatne, legal expert, Sri Lanka;

Terry Dale Ince, gender and human rights advocate, organisational development consultant and founder of CEDAW Committee of Trinidad and Tobago; and

Mark Stephens CBE, lawyer, United Kingdom.