Recently, a video of a statement by the Japanese Ambassador to Dhaka, Saida Shinichi, has been circulated on various internet platforms with the caption, “Japanese ambassador said no election will be held in Bangladesh without Awami League.”
See posts circulated on Facebook with this claim here (Archive), here (Archive), here (Archive).
See the post circulated on Instagram here (Archive)
See the post circulated on TikTok here (Archive).
Fact-Check
An investigation by the Rumor Scanner team found that the Japanese Ambassador Saida Shinichi did not make any comment regarding the Bangladesh Awami League’s participation in the upcoming 13th National Parliament Election. In reality, a video of Saida Shinichi’s statement on a different matter has been circulated with this claim.
At the beginning of the investigation, an observation of the circulated video showed the logo of the electronic media outlet Somoy TV.
Following this lead, a video report titled “Japan will give 4.8 million dollars for the parliamentary election” published on Somoy TV’s YouTube channel on July 02 was found. A part of this video matches the video in question.
Observing the video, it was seen that the segment from 00:22 to 01:00 seconds was used in the circulated video.
The detailed description of the video report reveals that Japan has pledged financial assistance, following Australia, to the ‘Ballot Project’ being implemented by the Election Commission (EC) with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), aiming for an acceptable and inclusive vote in the upcoming national parliamentary election. An agreement in this regard was signed at an event at the Election Building in Agargaon on July 02.
Speaking at this event, Japanese Ambassador Saida Shinichi said, ‘Bangladesh is now at an important juncture in its democratic journey. Japan respects Bangladesh’s own rights and fully supports its efforts for a peaceful and democratic political transition through a free, fair, and inclusive election. I hope Japan’s assistance through UNDP will make a significant contribution.’ Saida Shinichi did not make any comments regarding the Bangladesh Awami League’s participation in the upcoming election in his speech.
Subsequently, the same video footage and information were found in a video report titled “The upcoming election will be the best election in Bangladesh’s history: UNDP Representative” published on the YouTube channel of another media outlet, Channel i, on July 03.
Furthermore, a report on this matter published on the website of the Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) on July 02, titled “Japan to provide $4.8 million for ballot project in parliamentary election“, confirmed that Saida Shinichi spoke about providing overall assistance and support for the ‘Ballot Project’ being implemented by the Election Commission (EC) for a free, fair, and inclusive election in Bangladesh. His speech did not include any comment regarding the Bangladesh Awami League’s participation in the upcoming election.
Therefore, a video of the Japanese Ambassador’s statement about Japan’s support for the election has been circulated with the claim that it was a comment on the Bangladesh Awami League’s participation in the upcoming election; is false.
