Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina wins re-election: Election Commission

DHAKA: Bangladesh‘s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has gained re-election for a fifth time period Sunday, officers mentioned, following a boycott led by an opposition get together she branded a “terrorist organisation”.
Hasina’s ruling Awami League “has gained greater than 50 p.c seats,” an Election Fee spokesman advised AFP, with counting ongoing.
She has presided over breakneck financial development in a rustic as soon as beset by grinding poverty, however her authorities has been accused of rampant human rights abuses and a ruthless opposition crackdown.
Her get together confronted nearly no efficient rivals within the seats it contested, however it averted fielding candidates in just a few constituencies, an obvious effort to keep away from the legislature being branded a one-party establishment.
The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Celebration (BNP), whose ranks have been decimated by mass arrests, known as a basic strike and, together with dozens of others, refused to take part in a “sham election”.
Hasina, 76, had known as for residents to point out religion within the democratic course of — however election officers mentioned preliminary stories recommended a meagre turnout of some 40 p.c.
“The BNP is a terrorist organisation,” she advised reporters after casting her vote. “I’m making an attempt my greatest to make sure that democracy ought to proceed on this nation.”
Media collating outcomes from polling stations mentioned Hasina had gained greater than two-thirds of seats in parliament with practically 90 p.c of outcomes declared.
Of the 264 seats of the whole 300 introduced, Hasina’s Awami League had gained 204 and her allied Jatiya Celebration 9 extra, based on outcomes collated by Somoy TV, the nation’s largest non-public information broadcaster.
Among the many victors was Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh cricket crew captain, who gained his seat for Hasina’s get together be a landslide, native officers mentioned.
First-time voter Amit Bose, 21, mentioned he had solid his poll for his “favorite candidate”, however others mentioned that they had not bothered as a result of the end result was assured.
“When one get together is collaborating and one other is just not, why would I’m going to vote?” mentioned rickshaw-puller Mohammad Saidur, 31.
BNP head Tarique Rahman, talking from Britain the place he lives in exile, advised AFP he feared “pretend votes” can be used to spice up voter turnout.
“What unfolded was not an election, however quite a shame to the democratic aspirations of Bangladesh,” he wrote on social media, alleging he had seen “disturbing photos and movies” backing his claims.
The BNP and different events staged months of protests final 12 months, demanding Hasina step down forward of the vote. Officers within the port metropolis of Chittagong broke up an opposition protest Sunday, firing shotguns and tear fuel canisters.
However election officers mentioned voting was largely peaceable, with practically 800,000 cops and troopers deployed countrywide.
Meenakshi Ganguly, from Human Rights Watch, mentioned Sunday that the federal government had didn’t reassure opposition supporters that the polls can be honest, warning that “many concern an additional crackdown”.
Politics on the earth’s eighth-most populous nation was lengthy dominated by the rivalry between Hasina, the daughter of the nation’s founding chief, and two-time premier Khaleda Zia, spouse of a former navy ruler.
Hasina has been the decisive victor since returning to energy in a 2009 landslide, with two subsequent polls accompanied by widespread irregularities and accusations of rigging.
Zia, 78, was convicted of graft in 2018 and is now in ailing well being at a hospital in Dhaka. BNP head Rahman is her son.
Hasina has accused the BNP of arson and sabotage throughout final 12 months’s protest marketing campaign, which was largely peaceable however noticed a number of folks killed in police confrontations.
The federal government’s safety forces have been dogged by allegations of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances — costs it rejects.
Financial headwinds have left many dissatisfied with Hasina’s authorities, after sharp spikes in meals prices and months of persistent blackouts in 2022.
Pierre Prakash of the Worldwide Disaster Group mentioned earlier than the vote that Hasina’s authorities was clearly “much less widespread than it was just a few years in the past, but Bangladeshis have little actual outlet on the poll field”.
“That could be a doubtlessly harmful mixture.”