DHAKA Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has received an amazing majority in Bangladeshs parliamentary election after a marketing campaign fraught with violence and a boycott from the principle opposition social gathering, giving her and her Awami League a fourth consecutive time period.
Whereas the Election Fee has been gradual to announce the outcomes of Sundays election, TV stations with networks of journalists throughout the nation reported that the Awami League received 216 seats out of 299. Unbiased candidates took 52, whereas the Jatiya Occasion, the third largest within the nation, took 11 seats. The outcomes for the remainder of the constituencies had been nonetheless coming in late on Sunday evening.
The election was held in 299 out of 300 parliamentary seats. In a single seat, the election was postponed as required by legislation after an unbiased candidate died.
A closing official declaration from the Election Fee is predicted on Monday.
Learn Extra: The Final Election Yr: All of the Elections Across the World in 2024
Not less than 18 arson assaults preceded the vote however the election day handed in relative calm. Turnout was round 40%, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal mentioned after the polls closed.
The primary opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Occasion led by former premier Khaleda Zia refused to just accept the election end result, saying Bangladeshi voters have rejected the governments one-sided election.
Safety incidents, together with 4 deaths in an arson assault on a passenger practice on Friday, intensified tensions forward of the election that was shunned by Zias social gathering and its allied teams. They accuse Hasina of turning Bangladesh right into a one-party state and muzzling dissent and civil society.
Extra From TIME
Authorities blamed a lot of the violence on the BNP, accusing it of searching for to sabotage the election. On Saturday, detectives arrested seven males belonging to the BNP and its youth wing for his or her alleged involvement within the practice assault. The social gathering denied any function within the incident.
On Sunday, a supporter of an Awami League candidate was stabbed to dying in Munshiganj district close to the capital, Dhaka, officers mentioned. Police didn’t remark instantly.
A victory for the 76-year-old Hasina, the countrys longest-serving chief and certainly one of its most consequential, would include a deeply contentious political panorama.
Learn Extra: Sheikh Hasina and the Way forward for Democracy in Bangladesh
The vote, like earlier elections, has been outlined by the bitter rivalry between Hasinas Awami League and the BNP, led by Zia, who’s ailing and underneath home arrest on corruption costs, which her supporters declare are politically motivated.
The 2 ladies ran the nation alternately for a few years, cementing a feud that has since polarized Bangladeshs politics and fueled violence round elections. This years vote raised questions over its credibility when there are not any main challengers to tackle the incumbent.
Badshah Mia, a rickshaw puller in Dhaka, mentioned he wouldnt vote given the restricted decisions, including that the environment didnt exude that of a good election.
Sakibul Hasan Chowdhury, a businessman, felt the identical. There is no such thing as a opposition and no candidate of my selection. So how would I profit from voting?
A small enterprise proprietor, Habibur Rahman, mentioned he was voting for the ruling social gathering candidate in his constituency however added that there didnt appear to be a lot of a turnout.
Critics and rights teams say the vote follows a troubling sample, the place the previous two elections held underneath Hasina had been sullied by allegations of vote-rigging which authorities have denied and one other boycott by opposition events.
The federal government has rejected a monthslong demand by the BNP to have a impartial caretaker authorities administer Sundays vote.
The federal government has defended the election, saying 27 events and 404 unbiased candidates are collaborating. However with scores of candidates from the Awami League operating as independents and largely smaller opposition events within the race, analysts say Hasinas win is close to inevitable.
Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute on the Wilson Middle, mentioned none of these contesting would be capable of mount a lot of a problem to Hasinas social gathering. The end result is all however assured, and that’s that the Awami League will return (to energy) once more, he mentioned, noting that Bangladeshs democracy can be in an especially precarious state as soon as the election is finished.
Learn Extra: A Make-or-Break Yr for Democracy Worldwide
The vote has additionally been known as into query by accusations of a sweeping crackdown towards the BNP. The social gathering says about 20,000 of its members had been jailed forward of the vote on trumped-up costs. The federal government disputed the figures and denied that arrests had been made on account of political leanings, saying the numbers of these arrested had been between 2,000-3,000. The countrys legislation minister in an interview with BBC mentioned 10,000 had been possible arrested.
Abdul Moyeen Khan, a former minister and BNP chief, mentioned the spate of arrests pressured him and scores of different social gathering members to enter hiding for weeks till candidacy nominations had been halted. It was the one manner we may guarantee our security and keep it up elevating our voice (towards the federal government) he mentioned.
We’re not boycotting an election what we’re boycotting is a faux and one-sided election that this authorities is finishing up, Khan added.
Hasina is credited with remodeling the financial system of a younger nation born out of conflict and making its garment sector one of many worlds best. Her supporters say she has staved off navy coups and neutralized the specter of Islamic militancy. And internationally, shes helped elevate Bangladeshs profile as a nation able to doing enterprise and sustaining diplomatic ties with international locations typically at odds with one another, like India and China.
But her critics say her rise has risked turning Bangladesh into turning into a one-party state the place democracy is underneath menace, as emboldened authorities businesses more and more use oppressive instruments to mute critics, shrink press freedoms and prohibit civil society.
Learn Extra: 5 Takeaways from TIMEs Interview with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
The worldwide financial slowdown can also be being felt in Bangladesh, exposing cracks in its financial system which have triggered labor unrest and dissatisfaction with the federal government.
After casting her poll, Hasina dismissed issues over the legitimacy of the vote, telling reporters she was accountable to the individuals and whether or not they accepted the election or not was what mattered to her.
Im making an attempt my greatest to make sure that democracy ought to proceed on this nation, she added. With out democracy, you can’t make any growth.
Related Press video journalist Al-Emrun Garjon contributed to this report.
