With an Opposition boycott, nearly 120 million Bangladeshis began voting on Sunday in the general elections expected to be won by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who has held the position since 2008. The run up to the elections has been marred with incidents of violence and arson where at least five schools were set ablaze along with four coaches of a train on Friday, killing four people.
Sheikh Hasina, whose government has arrested thousands of rival politicians and supporters ahead of the polls, has urged pro-democratic and law-abiding parties not to fuel ideas that “disrupt” the country’s constitutional process, news agency PTI reported. The prime minister is credited with turning around the country’s economy and supercharging its garments industry. The growth has, however, slowed since mid-2022 and experts have said economic stability will be a major challenge for the next government.
Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) lead by former premier Khaleda Zia, 78, who is under house arrest as a convict of graft charges, boycotted the polls. The BNP is observing a 48-hour nationwide general strike which began at 6 am on Saturday and will end at 6 am on Monday.
Over 100 foreign observers, including three from India, will monitor the election. India has said the election is an “internal matter” while some countries, including the United States, have called for credible and inclusive polls.
Here are the LIVE updates on Bangladesh Elections:
Get NDTV UpdatesTurn on notifications to receive alerts as this story develops.
Bangladesh voters participated in the general elections in large numbers on Sunday, exuding confidence in the incumbent Awami League-led government under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The voters said that there will not be any impact from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as people are not with them, but with the progress that the country has witnessed in the last 15 years.
Notably, around 170 million people in Bangladesh are voting to elect 299 lawmakers during the 12th national election amid a boycott by the main opposition BNP.
“We are very happy, it is a festive mood, people are coming out to vote. It’s nice. People are very very excited to cast their vote. They are voting because they believe this government has done a lot of development which will continue if the party comes back to power. We think they will win and continue with the development,” a voter named Rober Simon Gomez told ANI.
One of Bangladesh’s key newspapers critical of the government said Sunday its website had been blocked, as the country votes in a general election boycotted by the opposition.
Sajid Hoque, news editor at the Daily Manab Zamin, said the paper had been “flooded with calls and messages” from readers who said “that they cannot access our website”.
The newspaper’s printed edition was still available on the streets.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is guaranteed to win a fifth term after a boycott led by an opposition party she has branded a “terrorist organisation”. (AFP)
Police in Bangladesh on Sunday said they had fired shotguns as they clashed with opposition activists who had set up a roadblock to protest voting in ongoing general elections.
Mokhlesur Rahman, a police deputy commissioner in the port city of Chittagong, said officers had “fired shotguns” to disperse up to 60 opposition members who had blocked a road using burning tyres. “No one is injured,” Rahman told AFP. “The situation is now under control.” (AFP)
Bangladesh Voters In Queue Despite Hartal Announcement, Boycott Appeal
In Bangladesh’s Comilla, voters were seen standing in a queue waiting for their turns to cast their votes despite a boycott led by an opposition party.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina cast her vote on Sunday soon after polls opened in a general election in Bangladesh that is set to carry her Awami League-led alliance to a fourth straight term amid a boycott by the main opposition party.
Accompanied by her daughter and other members of her family, Hasina voted at City College in the capital, Dhaka, minutes after polling began at 8 a.m. (0200 GMT). It will run until 4 p.m. (1000 GMT), followed by the counting of votes.
Initial results are expected early on Monday, though Reuters witnesses said voter turnout was low in the chill and fog of a winter morning preceded by violence in the run-up to the election.
“Bangladesh is a sovereign country and people are my power,” Hasina said after voting, adding that she hoped her party would win the people’s mandate, which would give it a fifth term. (Reuters)
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the main opposition party that has chosen to boycott the national elections is a “terrorist organisation”. “The Bangladesh Nationalist Party is a terrorist organisation. I am trying my best to ensure that democracy should continue in this country,” she said.
- 12th elections
- 119.6 million registered voters
- 42,000 polling stations
- Voting held in 299 out of 300 constituencies
- 1,500 candidates
- 27 political parties
- 436 independent candidates.
- 100 foreign observers, including three from India
