The government of Canada has not deployed any election observers to monitor the 12th parliamentary election of Bangladesh.
The High Commission of Canada in Bangladesh confirmed this through a post on its official X (formerly Twitter) handle on Monday.
The message also said that the two Canadian citizens various media have been speaking about as polls monitors are actually “acting independently”.
“Their views have not been endorsed by the Government of Canada,” the message concluded.
Observers from different international organisations and countries monitored the national parliamentary election in Bangladesh at different centres, held on Sunday. Later, they shared their observations with the media at a press conference in a hotel in the capital in the evening.
Addressing the conference, Canadian parliament member Chandra Arya said, the voting ended in a fair manner. A record number of female voters came to cast their ballot. He also said they got the opportunity to talk to the people at polling centres as per their choice.
He also congratulated the election commission for a fair electoral process.
Responding to a question, Chandra Arya said, those who boycotted the election, this is their issue, not of their's. The turnout was 43 per cent in Canada too but none raised a question on this. The matter to consider is whether the people could cast their votes.
Whether those who came to vote could cast their ballots without any obstruction is more important than the turnout rate, he said adding that is why there is no reason to question the acceptability of this election.