A substantial number of foreign election observers will be present in Bangladesh for the upcoming 13th parliamentary elections, marking the most extensive international monitoring in nearly two decades.

Ninety short-term observers from the European union (EU) will begin fieldwork on Tuesday, ahead of the parliamentary election and referendum scheduled for 12 February. These observers form a core component of the EU Election Observation Mission (EU EOM), which comprises around 200 observers in total.

Among the countries and international organisations invited to observe the general election of Bangladesh, the European union stands out as the largest single contributor. The 27-member bloc is deploying the highest number of observers to monitor the voting.