Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday said that it was now a fact that elections could never be free, fair and credible under the current Awami League government.

Addressing the biennial general meeting of a faction of Dhaka Union of Journalists at the Jatiya Press Club, he also said that if the election was not participatory, it would not be accepted as per the country’s constitution.

‘A truth has now been established in Bangladesh that elections can never be fair, free, and acceptable and people here can never express their opinions and exercise their right to franchise freely if the Awami League government remains in power,’ the BNP leader observed.

He alleged that the government had already snatched the people’s freedom of expression and voting rights to cement its power.

Fakhrul also said it was now recognised in the entire world that there was no place for independent journalism in Bangladesh.

As Bangladesh was now completely in the hands of an authoritarian ruler, he said freedom of the press, the main pillar of democracy, had been regulated here by the regime to meet their needs.

In the whole world, he said those who believed in a free press, democracy, and freedom to express dissenting opinions, were all saying in one sentence that there was no democracy, free press, or freedom of media in Bangladesh as the government did not have the mindset to tolerant different opinions.

‘The govt are hampering the people’s freedom of expression of dissent, the right to vote and the right to live by applying excessive force with the aim of establishing a one-party rule and perpetuating their power,’ the BNP leader said.