DHAKA: Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh, won re-election for a fifth term on Sunday ( Jan 7 ), according to officials. This came after an opposition party’s boycott, which she branded as “terrorist organization.”
An Election Commission spokesman told AFP in the early hours of Monday morning that Hasina’s decision, the Awami League, “has won the election,” following a vote that initial studies had suggested had only about 40 % of voters.
In a nation after gripped by abject poverty, she has presided over rapid economic growth, but her administration has been charged with egregious human rights violations and brutal opposition crackdown.
Her party had very few powerful rivals in the chairs it ran for, but it refrained from fielding candidates in a few constituencies in what appeared to be an effort to prevent the government from being associated with one celebration.
The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( BNP ), whose ranks have been decimated by widespread arrests, declared a general strike and, along with dozens of other candidates, declined to take part in the” sham election.”
Election payment officials said Hasina’s group had won about three-quarters of seats, or at least 220 of the entire 300, though the final result and precise numbers may be publicly announced at a ceremony later on Monday.
However, Hasina’s power over parliament may be further increased with the backing of another lawmakers, including those from allies.
“DISGRACE”
Hasina, 76, had urged people to have confidence in the political method.
After casting her vote, she told investigators that” The BNP is a criminal organization.” ” I’m doing everything I can to make sure that this nation’s politics endures.”
Amit Bose, a 21-year-old first-time voter, declared that he had cast his ballot for his “favourite candidate,” but others claimed they did n’t care because the result was certain.
Why would I go to vote if one party is voting but another is n’t? said Mohammad Saidur, a 31-year-old moped lifter.
Speaking to AFP from exiled Britain, BNP leader Tarique Rahman expressed concern that “fake seats” would be used to increase voter participation.
He wrote on social media, claiming he had seen “disturbing pictures and videos” supporting his says.” What transpired was not an election, but instead a humiliation to the political aspirations of Bangladesh.”
Shakib Al Hasan, the commander of the Bangladesh baseball team, was among the winners. According to local officials, Hasina’s party easily won his seat.
A FEELING OF” ANOTHERCRACKDOWN”
Last month, Hasina was the target of months-long demonstrations by the BNP and other events, which called for him to resign before the vote. On Sunday, police in the port town of Chittagong dispersed an opposition demonstration by firing firearms and tear gas cylinders.
However, election officials claimed that with nearly 800,000 police officers and soldiers stationed across the nation, voting was generally calm.
Human Rights Watch’s Meenakshi Ganguly stated on Sunday that “many fear a deeper crackdown” because the state had failed to convince opposition followers that the polls may be good.
The rivalry between Hasina, the daughter of the nation’s foundation head, and two-time top Khaleda Zia—the wife of a former military ruler—has long dominated politicians in the 170 million-person nation.
Since regaining power in a 2009 landslide, Hasina has been the clear winner, with two following polls being accompanied by popular irregularities and accusations of hacking.
Zia, 78, is currently ill at a hospital in Dhaka after being found guilty of bone in 2018. Rahman, the mind of BNP, is her brother.
” RISKYCOMBINATION.”
Hasina has charged the BNP with sabotage and arson during the largely peaceful protests last year, which resulted in the deaths of various people in police clashes.
Allegations of forced kidnappings and extrajudicial murders have been pursued by the president’s security forces, which it rejects.
After sharp increases in food prices and times of ongoing blackouts in 2022, monetary headwinds have left some unhappy with Hasina’s administration.
Before the ballot, Pierre Prakash of the International Crisis Group stated that Hasina’s administration was obviously “less common than it was a few years ago, but Bangladeshis have little genuine store at the ballot box.”
” That mixture has the potential to be dangerous.”