PM Hasina says all future elections will be free and fair

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that all future elections in the country will be free and fair.

She was speaking Monday evening at the beginning of the joint meeting of the Awami League Executive Assembly and the Advisory Council which was convened to discuss EC search committee requests to propose names to form the next election commission.

The new Election Commission will be formed by suggested names from various parties.

The newly formed Election Commission would conduct the next general elections.

Speaking at the meeting, she said no one would be able to make a mockery of the electoral rights of the people of Bangladesh.

"Our aim is to ensure free and fair elections in a healthy environment...Narayanganj City Corporation polls were held in a healthy manner. People voted and got the results," she said.

"We do hope all elections in the future will be fair like this. The people will vote for whom they want."

"We want the people should vote and elect their representatives entirely by themselves. This is entirely their matter," Hasina said.

Her statement came in response to BNP's allegation that the Awami League hijacked the people's right to vote.

Hasina alluded to the 2001 BNP-Jamaat regime and said, "Whenever their government returns to power the people's rights are played with."

"Whether people want peace or the unrest from Begum, will be decided by the people," she said in an oblique attack on her rivals.

The people will decide how much we could serve the people," she said.