Election was participatory, no signs of engineering: TIB
He added that a significant portion of voters included Awami League supporters.
The 13th National Parliamentary Election was acceptably participatory and inclusive, with no elements of "election engineering" observed, said Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB).
He made the remarks this morning (16 February) while responding to questions from journalists at a press conference held at TIB's Dhanmondi office in Dhaka.
The press conference was organised to mark the release of a report titled "Observation of the 13th National Parliamentary Election Process and Affidavit-Based Assessment."
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Responding to a question about whether the election could be considered inclusive without the Awami League's formal participation, Iftekharuzzaman said leaders and activists of the party took part at the local level either by joining other parties or as independent candidates.
He added that a significant portion of voters included Awami League supporters.
"Based on facts, we have said the election was acceptably participatory and inclusive," he said.
At the press conference, TIB presented findings on various aspects of the election.
The report was prepared using a representative sampling method, selecting 70 constituencies at random out of 300 parliamentary seats.
