Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Sunday said that whether the people of the country supported the election was the big issue, not the stance of Western countries.
“Why do you worry so much about nations in the West? Do you lack self-confidence? The most important point is that the government was elected by the people,” he said while replying to a question after his meeting with some foreign observers in the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel.
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The observers hailed the election process as free, fair, and transparent.
The question of Western recognition came up as major opposition party BNP boycotted the polls. The US last year announced a visa policy to ensure free and fair elections in Bangladesh, but Russia called the US measure interference.
“We believe in the people,” Dr Momen said, adding: “When we got independence in 1971, did the Western world support us?”
He said: “Whether the people of the country supported it or not is a big issue. I am not interested in what a foreigner says, I believe in what our people say.”
He also expressed gratitude to the people for casting votes in a hostile environment.
“They set fire to the train and killed people. There was panic. But people voted for us. They supported us in this hostile environment.”
Stating that there was no rigging in the election, the foreign minister said that there were no fake votes anywhere. The election was free, fair, and acceptable.
The Election Commission has taken appropriate steps, he said.
“No one can say that the vote has already taken place,” he said, adding that a foreign observer went to a polling centre at 6am when there were no people there.
“I heard they went so early in the morning to see whether anyone was stuffing the ballot box in the dark of night… very surprising.”
He said the foreign observer team also discussed the issues of the BNP with him.
He said: “The bitterness that has been created with the opposition party, they want to know what we think about reducing the bitterness in the future.”
They did not comment otherwise, he said.
He, however, also said the BNP did not come up with any manifesto that can be discussed.
“They have only one issue…the prime minister must resign. Is there any such method in the world?” he said, asking if Biden would resign in America before the election.
He said the BNP was making the excessive demand deliberately so that there is no opportunity for any kind of discussion.
