The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has expressed hope that the upcoming general elections in Bangladesh will be the best in the country's history.

"We are supporting the Election Commission (EC) to conduct a free and fair election, hopefully the best election in the history of Bangladesh, and that is the aspiration," said Stefan Liller, UNDP Bangladesh Resident Representative, after attending a briefing for development partners arranged by the EC.

Envoys and representatives from 18 countries, including the EU, USA, UK, Japan, China, and South Korea, were present at the meeting held at the EC office in Dhaka.

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Stefan Liller said that the timeline for the polls is solely the decision of the interim government and the EC, saying, "We have nothing to do with that."

He refrained from commenting on the challenges of the elections.

The UN's electoral support was requested by the EC in December last year, following which a need assessment team visited in January to determine possible technical assistance. Discussions with development partners are ongoing regarding support areas such as EC strengthening, voter registration, and training institutions.