Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ito Naoki has said he never heard of stuffing ballot boxes using police at previous night of the election-day anywhere in the world.
The ambassador made the remarks while speaking at an event titled, 'Meet the Ambassador' held at a hotel at Gulshan in Dhaka on Monday (November 14, 2022).
"I have never heard of the allegation of ballot box stuffing anywhere in the world as surfaced against police in Bangladesh in the last general elections," he said. 'Ballot box stuffing' should never be repeated."
Ambassador Naoki said Japan expects that the next general elections in Bangladesh will be held in a 'free and fair' manner with the participation of all major political parties. "We expect the next election will be a better one. Free and fair elections need to be done here. That's my strong hope."
The Ambassador said he knows that the Election Commission is working for a free and fair election and the government of Bangladesh is also telling that a free and fair election will be conducted. "It's very important."
At the same time, the envoy said, this is something that the political parties should decide but the expectation is that the election will be a participatory one and the major political parties will participate in it.
Recalling the 2018 general elections in Bangladesh, Ambassador Naoki said the Japanese Embassy in Dhaka had issued a statement of concern focusing violence. It was very unusual for his country because Japan doesn't issue any statement after the elections of any country.
Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) hosted the event in collaboration with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Bangladesh.
Zillur Rahman, Executive Director of the Centre for Governance Studies moderated the programme.
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