Britain may support holding Bangladesh's general election under a more relaxed state of emergency, but the European Union is unlikely to monitor the polls unless emergency rule is scrapped, officials said on Wednesday.

"We are on the side of [the election] being as much as possible free and fair, with as little emergency legislation as possible," the UK minister of state for Asia, Africa and the United Nations, Lord Mark Malloch Brown, told reporters after a meeting with Bangladesh's Foreign Affairs Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury.

Brown arrived in Dhaka Wednesday morning on a two-day visit to weigh up Bangladesh's political situation ahead of the parliamentary polls scheduled for December 18.

He said the election must be free and fair.

"But it is not the easiest way to hold it [election] under state of emergency. The election will gather more legitimacy, if it is held under normal and legal conditions," he said after a meeting with the home affairs adviser, M A Matin.

The Bangladesh interim administration, which was installed in January 2007 on the heels of political violence, informed him that law and order requires some parts of emergency legislation to remain in place, said the British minister.

"We are counting on the elections going forward on December 18 and the elections being held in conditions which allow a free and fair vote and the people of Bangladesh to choose again their government," he said.

Foreign Affairs Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed told reporters that they discussed the political developments in Bangladesh leading to the election being scheduled.

The head of the government, Fakhruddin Ahmed, in September announced that the election would be held under a relaxed state of emergency, rather than a total withdrawal of the military from the government. The government relaxed the state of emergency to some extent, allowing some political activities.

Meanwhile, the European Commission's mission head in Dhaka said Wednesday that the European Union will not send a polls observation mission unless the government restores certain civil and political rights by relaxing or lifting the state of emergency.

Stefan Frowein told reporters the EU did not generally send poll observer to monitor elections under a state of emergency.

"We have not ever in other country so far observed elections under the state of emergency. In principle, you cannot hold free and fair election under emergency," the mission chief said.

"We have a problem with the state of emergency, because it takes away certain rights," he said, adding that Bangladesh's emergency was not, however, like the one in Pakistan.

Bangladesh's major political parties - Awami League of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed and Bangladesh Nationalist Party of another former premier Khaleda Zia - have been asking the military-backed interim government for complete lifting of the state of emergency to ensure an atmosphere conducive for a free and fair election.