Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called the statement given by Asian Network for Free Election (ANFREL) on Dec 29 as biased. A press release from the ministry on Dec 30 said that the national polls were held in a free, fair and festive manner.
It also said that ANFREL’s assertion that the electoral atmosphere is ‘restrictive’, is wrong.
Bangladesh Election Commission is free and in the last five years (2012-2017) organized 6937 elections, read the statement and added: this year, 65 foreign journalists were registered and 25900 local and 7-8 thousand journalists observed the elections.
ANFREL said that of the 32 observers, 13 were granted visas while the ministry says that visa processing of others were underway when ANFREL made the declaration.