Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina emerged as the frontrunner in Bangladesh’s general election on Sunday as she aims for a record fourth term in office with her Awami League gaining a big lead in early results following a tense vote that saw at least 17 people killed in poll-related violence.
Hasina was elected virtually unopposed from the Gopalganj-3 constituency as she won by a landslide, bagging 2,29,539 votes while her main BNP opponent could manage just 123. The Election Commission officially announced Hasina’s win in the evening. Voting ended earlier in the day to choose a new Government amid the Opposition’s allegations of manipulation by the Awami League. Some reports said 20 of the ruling party’s candidates have already won compared to just one from main Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party of jailed ex-premier Khaleda Zia.
Election officials said Awami League candidates are leading in 62 seats while BNP contenders were leading in two constituencies.
Former president HM Ershad’s Jatiya Party, which is a partner of Awami League-led Grand Alliance, won one seat while Opposition National Unity Front (NUF), with the BNP as its partner, is yet to win a seat. BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, who steered the party in Zia’s absence, however won in his northeastern Thakurgaon constituency, officials said.
The Election Commission has so far confirmed the complete result of only one constituency in southwestern Gopalganj from where Hasina won bagging 2,29,539 votes while her BNP opponent got only 123 votes. The EC said 1,848 candidates are contesting for 299 out of 300 Parliament seats. The polls are being held at 40,183 polling stations. Voting was suspended in one seat due to the death of a candidate.
While Hasina is seeking re-election for a fourth term as the Prime Minister, her chief rival, ex-premier Zia, who is reportedly partially paralysed, faces an uncertain future in a Dhaka jail.
The voting started at 8 am and ended at 4 pm. The results are expected by Monday morning which would be announced by the commission headquarters in the capital, the EC said.
EC officials said they have received over a hundred complaints from candidates throughout the country amid reports of violence.
At least 17 people, including a member of a security agency, have been killed in eight districts in poll-related violence, the Daily Star newspaper reported, with dozens injured. The build-up to the election has already been marred by violence.