DHAKA: Officials announced that Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh, has been re-elected for a fifth term on Sunday, defying a boycott spearheaded by an opposition party that she called a “terrorist organization.”
An Election Commission spokesman told AFP in the early hours of Monday morning that Hasina’s ruling Awami League “has won the election,” following a vote that preliminary estimates indicated had a pitiful turnout of about 40%.
She has overseen a nation that was once gripped by extreme poverty to experience rapid economic progress, but her administration has come under fire for widespread violations of human rights and a vicious assault on opposition.
In the seats it fought for, her party had very few viable opponents, but it chose not to run candidates in a few districts, ostensibly to avoid the legislature being labeled a one-party institution.
Along with dozens of other opposition parties, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) declared a national strike and declined to take part in a “sham election” as their ranks had been severely eroded by mass arrests.
At least 220 of the 300 seats were won by Hasina’s party, according to election commission officials, however the precise results and final count will be publicly declared at a ceremony later on Monday.
But Hasina’s hold on power in parliament might be strengthened with the backing of additional MPs, particularly those from ally parties.
The 76-year-old Hasina had urged people to have faith in the democratic system.
After casting her ballot, she told reporters, “The BNP is a terrorist organization.” “I am trying my best to ensure that democracy should continue in this country.”
Amit Bose, 21, a first-time voter, claimed to have voted for his “favourite candidate,” but other people claimed they hadn’t bothered as the result was certain.
“Why would I go to vote when one party is participating and another is not?” asked 31-year-old Mohammad Saidur, who pulls rickshaws.
Also read: Maldives suspends ministers after ‘clown’ jibe against India’s Modi
Speaking to AFP from his exile in Britain, BNP leader Tarique Rahman expressed his concern that “fake votes” will be utilized to increase poll turnout.
He claimed to have seen “disturbing pictures and videos” to support his accusations on social media, writing, “What unfolded was not an election, but rather a disgrace to the democratic aspirations of Bangladesh.”
Shakib Al Hasan, the captain of the Bangladesh cricket team, was one of the winners. According to local officials, he easily won his seat for Hasina’s party.
The BNP and other parties held months of protests last year, demanding Hasina step down before of the ballot. Officers in the port city of Chittagong broke up an opposition rally Sunday, shooting shotguns and tear gas canisters.
Nonetheless, with around 800,000 police and military personnel stationed across the nation, election officials reported that voting was generally calm.
Human Rights Watch’s Meenakshi Ganguly stated on Sunday that “many fear a further crackdown” and that “the government has failed to reassure opposition supporters that the polls would be fair.”
The longstanding rivalry between Hasina, the daughter of the nation’s founding leader, and Khaleda Zia, the wife of a previous military ruler, who served as prime minister twice, has dominated politics in the 170 million-person nation.
Since regaining power in 2009, Hasina has emerged as the clear winner; nevertheless, two subsequent polls were marred by several anomalies and allegations of manipulation.
Zia, 78, is currently in critical condition at a Dhaka hospital after being found guilty of graft in 2018. Rahman, the head of BNP, is her son.
Hasina has charged the BNP of sabotage and arson during the largely nonviolent protest campaign of the previous year, which resulted in multiple deaths from clashes with the police.
The administration denies charges of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, which have plagued its security forces.
Many people are displeased with Hasina’s government due to economic hardships, which include steep increases in food prices and months of prolonged outages in 2022.
Ahead of the poll, International Crisis Group’s Pierre Prakash declared that Hasina’s administration was obviously “less popular than it was a few years ago, yet Bangladeshis have little real outlet at the ballot box.”
“That is a potentially dangerous combination.”
