Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader has said that no country in the world can hold a flawless parliamentary election.
His comment came on Sunday in response to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ remarks that it was obvious the 11th general election in Bangladesh was not perfect.
Quader said: “I wonder which country ever held a flawless election. Who can claim that the election in their country was perfect?”
The road transport and bridges minister raised the question when reporters brought the UN chief’s remarks to his attention after a meeting at his office in Setu Bhaban in Dhaka’s Banani.
At a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York on Friday, the UN chief had also said: “... We encourage the different areas of the Bangladeshi political sphere to engage in meaningful forms of dialogue in order for the political life in Bangladesh to be as positive as possible.”
Quader described Guterres’ call for dialogue as an “observation,” and added that political parties in all democratic countries should continue dialogues.
“The UN did not mean talks should be held over the recently held election,” he said.
“Talks take place on different issues in every democratic country as dialogue is part of the democratic process. But now it is not mandatory to hold dialogue centring the election,” he added.
The BNP has charged that the Awami League won the December 30 general election by vote rigging.
Awami League, which has formed a government for a third consecutive term, denied all allegations from the opposition and claimed BNP was spreading propaganda only to make the election questionable.