Online Desk: Chief Election Commission (CEC) Kazi Habiul Awal on Tuesday said everyone felt that BNP’s participation would have been much better but the party did not respond to the repeated calls made by the Election Commission (EC).

“It is true that an important party is not participating in the elections. It would have been much better had the BNP participated it. You know, we have been urging them to participate since the beginning. We invited, they did not respond,” he told reporters at the EC secretariat.

The CEC was talking to reporters after his meeting with Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Iwama Kiminori.

He said Japan will observe the next national election scheduled for January 7 with a team composed of members from Tokyo and embassy staff.

“They are giving much importance to our election. They want to observe the polls. We thank them,” he told reporters at the EC secretariat.

The CEC said they updated the Japanese Ambassador about the coming elections. He said the donor countries are keeping eyes on the upcoming elections.

“We are giving much importance to holding free, fair and peaceful elections,” he said, adding that it is important to talk about his personal comfort or discomfort.