JAN 08, 2024 : With her Awami League party winning an overwhelming majority in the general elections tainted by intermittent violence and a boycott by the main opposition BNP and its allies, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has earned a record fourth consecutive term in office. 223 seats were gained by Hasina’s party in the 300-seat Parliament. There were 299 seats up for election. A candidate’s death has resulted in a postponed election for one seat, per media sources. The Jatiya Party, which is the biggest opposition in Parliament, gained 11 seats; the Bangladesh Kallyan party won one seat; and 62 seats went to independent candidates. Each party got one seat: the Workers Party of Bangladesh and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal. Hasina, seventy-six.also the Awami League president, won the Gopalganj-3 constituency with a resounding victory, earning her a seventh term in parliament. With the second-lowest turnout since democracy was restored in 1991, Hasina, who has ruled the strategically positioned South Asian nation since 2009, won a record-breaking fourth straight term and fifth term overall in the lopsided election. In the contentious elections held in February 1996, the turnout was 26.5%, the lowest in Bangladesh’s history.The Election Commission anticipated that the final tally might stand at about 40% when voting closed at 4:00 pm on Sunday. This is a 13% increase in turnout in just one hour. As of 3:00 pm, the turnout in the election was 27.15 percent. Hasina will likely become Bangladesh’s longest-serving prime leader since the country’s independence with this victory. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia and which abstained from voting and observed a strike on election day, declared on Tuesday that it will be stepping up its anti-government campaign with a nonviolent public engagement programme starting on Tuesday, branding the polls as “fake.” The low participation, according to the party officials, proved their boycott campaign was effective. They declared that under this initiative, the right to vote will be created and peaceful democratic protests would be expedited. The results of the polls on Sunday, which pitted Awami League candidates against “independents” from the party, didn’t seem to interest the electorate. In response to the BNP’s call for a boycott in the run-up to the election, the Hasina government allegedly employed a number of tactics, including applying pressure. Tens of thousands of opposition politicians and supporters were detained by Hasina’s government prior to the elections; human rights organisations have denounced this action as an attempt to immobilise the opposition.In an attempt to make the election appear competitive and participatory, Hasina asked all of her party’s officials and volunteers to run as independent candidates. She went for a tight-knit seat-sharing arrangement with the Jatiya Party and other allies. However, the surprising triumphs of these independent candidates have fundamentally changed the political landscape, raising the possibility of a new phase of intraparty rivalry inside the ruling party. By casting their votes, the public, according to Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader, has rejected the boycott of the election by the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami. “I sincerely thank those who braved the fear of vandalism, arson, and terrorism to participate in the 12th national parliamentary elections,” Quader stated. Despite the largely peaceful voting, officials and the mainstream media reported at least 18 arson attacks across the country since late Friday, with 10 of them targeting polling places. As Bangladesh steps into this new term under the Awami League’s governance, the reshaping of the Opposition poses critical questions about the future of the country’s parliamentary dynamics and political balance, bdnews newspaper said.
