Staff Reporter:
As far as Japanese election observer mission was able to observe, the election process in Bangladesh was conducted in accordance with procedures, Japanese foreign press secretary Kobayashi Maki in a state-ment said yesterday.
“Japan hopes that Bangladesh, as a strategic partner, will make progress in its efforts for further devel-opment as a democratic nation,” she said in the statement.
It further said Japan intends to continue to support Bangladesh for its development and prosperity, and further develop the bilateral relationship.
The press secretary said Japan welcomes that overall, the election was generally conducted peacefully although some irregularities were reported in the general election,
“On the other hand, we regret that there were incidents of violence with casualties in the process leading up to the general election,” read the statement. ?
From Japan, an election observer mission headed by Watanabe Masato, former Ambassador to Bangla-desh, consisting of officials of the Japanese foreign ministry and Japanese embassy in Dhaka as well as an outside expert, conducted monitoring activities on site.