The Election Commission expected a favourable environment in the country for the upcoming national elections but this has not been achieved yet, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal said today.

"We want to organise the election. As the organiser, we would like to say that the favourable environment we were expecting has not been achieved yet," Kazi Habibul Awal said while speaking at the workshop titled, "12th Jatiya Sangshad Elections: Role of Mass Media" on Thursday (26 October).

"We invited BNP for discussion. They did not respond," he added.

He said the Election Commission wants the political environment to become conducive.

"If any crisis arises, we are very sincere in solving it. We had expectations for a favourable environment to organise free and fair elections, but that hasn't come to be," Kazi Habibul Awal said.

The Election Commission sincerely hopes that the political environment will become favourable, he added.

"We are constantly calling for this. That is why we arranged dialogues. For those who do not want to come, we have given a semi-official letter. But we didn't get a response," the CEC said. 

Saying that the strategy of political parties is their own business, he added, "They may have their own strategies. We will not intrude."

Along with CEC, other election commissioners, senior officials of EC, Mahfuz Anam, editor of The Daily Star; Naeem Nizam, editor of Bangladesh Pratidin; Saiful Alam, editor of Dainik Jugantar among others participated in the workshop.