Bangladesh Election witnessed yet another boycott as the ruling party emerged triumphant on Sunday. The questionable fairness of the poll was further tainted by the voter turnout of 40 percent.
Source: X
Dhaka: In a controversy-laden poll, The Awami League led by incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina emerged victorious for a record fifth time on Sunday. The PM secured her fourth consecutive win in the 12th general election. The Awami League managed to secure 222 out of the total 300 seats.
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The 76-year-old leader, who contested from Gopalganj-3 constituency, earned 2,49,965 votes. Her closest opponent M Nizam Uddin Lashkar, under the Bangladesh Supreme Party, received merely 469 votes. Bangladesh cricketer and AL leader Shakib Al Hasan, who contested from Magura-1 constituency, won by sealing 1,85,388 votes.
In terms of the number of seats, the second position goes to independent candidates who won 63 seats in total. As per reports from the Election Commission, the Jatiya Party, the current opposition, managed to secure only 11 of the 300 seats. This engenders a problem of finding an opposition in the Parliament.
The majority of the successful independent candidates were individuals who had faced rejection from the Awami League, yet were approached by the party leadership to run as “dummy candidates” in order to create the illusion of competition during the election. Shahidul Alam, a renowned Bangladeshi rights activist and photographer, described the outcome of the election as bizzare where dummy candidates will form a dummy parliament.
Bangladesh Election: Voting Amidst Mass Boycott
The election saw a mass boycott from the main opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), whom Hasina had labelled a “terrorist organisation”. They accused the “one-sided election” as a mere “formality” for PM Hasina to reclaim power. Instead of Hasina’s administration, BNP wanted the balloting to be held under a neutral entity.
Source: X
Voter Turnout
As per reports by the Election Commission, the voter turnout was 40 percent at the closing of polling at 4 pm on Sunday. Sakhawat Hossain, a former election commissioner, expressed disbelief at the turnout of 40 percent, particularly considering that the chief election commissioner initially stated it was 28 percent during the media briefing before suddenly changing it to 40 percent.
For the BNP leaders, even 28 percent seemed high as the nation witnessed a large number of empty polling booths. The declaration of a 48-hour hartal from Saturday by the opposition also gave an added impetus to the reduced turnout. Abdul Moyeen Khan, a senior BNP leader, highlighted the prevalence of images and videos showcasing dogs alongside police and a handful of Awami League activists in the media and social platforms. However, he pointed out the absence of any voters in these visuals during his briefing with journalists after the election.
Questionable Fairness and AL’s Response
Obaidul Quader, Bangladeshi Minister and General Secretary of the Awami League, called the election a victory for the democracy. He said that the balloting was a befitting reply to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s “terrorism”.
Sheikh Hasina — The Invincible Leader
In July 1996, Sheikh Hasina became the Prime Minister of the country for the first time. It was her government who opened up the telecommunications industry to the private sector. Until then, telecommunications industry was limited to companies owned by the government. In the Jatiya Sangsad, she engaged in a “Prime Minister’s Question-Answer Time”, thus becoming the first PM to do so. Her term ended in July 2001.
In the 2008 general election, the Awami League, together with the Grand Alliance comprising 14 parties, won securing two-thirds majority i.e., winning 230 out of 299 seats. Khaleda Zia, the leader of the coalition led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), dismissed the election results, alleging that the Chief Election Commissioner orchestrated the parliamentary election. Sheikh Hasina assumed the office for a second time on 6 January 2009. Since then, PM Hasina Hasina has been riding high on success.
