Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ito Naoki yesterday said his country expects the next general election in Bangladesh to be free, fair and participatory.

"I heard that there were incidents of ballot stuffing in the last election. Police officers were reported to have stuffed ballot boxes the night before election day," he said.

"I've never heard this in any other country. Such incidents should never be repeated," he remarked while speaking at an event titled "Meet the Ambassador" held in a Dhaka hotel.

The Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) hosted the programme in collaboration with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Bangladesh. CGS Executive Director Zillur Rahman moderated the event.

"The Japanese embassy in Dhaka even issued a statement expressing concerns following the general election of 2018. This was a very unusual thing to do for the embassy," he added.

He expressed hope that the upcoming national elections would see participation from all major political parties.

The envoy said he was aware of the election commission's efforts to conduct a free and fair election as well as the government's assurances of the same, which he cited as "very important".

"So, naturally we expect that next election to be better ... free and fair. This is our sincere hope,"  he added.