"It is very much in the interest of everyone in Bangladesh that the political parties should co-operate with the interim government to achieve a free and fair election," Avebury, also vice chairman of Parliamentary Human Rights Group said in a statement.

He also welcomed the recent speech of the chief adviser to the caretaker government Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed and said racial or religious hatred and communalism must be avoided during the campaign for a free and fair poll.

Over the past two years, the IBF organised conferences, seminars and meetings to discuss the violence and intolerance, the political slanting of key appointments, and the gross flaws in the electoral roll, which would have made free and fair elections virtually impossible.