WEB DESK
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that the next general elections in the country will be free and fair, reports the official news agency BSS. Prime Minister Hasina said that the Election Commission in Bangladesh is completely independent. She made the remarks in her meeting when a delegation led by the U.S. State Department Counselor Derek Chollet paid a courtesy call on her at her official residence on Wednesday.
Sheikh Hasina said that she has always struggled for the people’s right to vote and she would never want to come to power through vote rigging.
Explaining the steps taken by the government to hold free and fair elections, Prime Minister Hasina said that her government passed the first ever law to constitute a neutral Election Commission with administrative and financial independence. She said no other party except the ruling Awami League has a mass base in the country. Taking a swipe at opposition parties, Prime Minister Hasina said that both Jatiya Party and Bangladesh Nationalist Party were born in cantonment. She said she was willing to take charge of the country again if people voted her back to power in the next general elections.
Highlighting the socio-economic development of Bangladesh during the 14-year rule of the Awami League, Prime Minister Hasina said that it has been possible due to stability and continued democratic practice in the country.
Bangladesh is likely to hold general elections by the end of this year or early in January next year. Awami League came to power in January 2009. It again won the elections second time in a row to return back to power in 2014 followed by its third term when it formed the government in January 2019 after the parliamentary elections held in December 2018 under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina.