The general elections in Bangladesh were marked this Sunday by low participation and boycott of opposition parties, as well as violent episodes that left several dead. The elections are expected to result in the current Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, as the winner, reports Efe. The first official results will begin to be provided first thing on Monday.
The Bangladesh Election Commission counted a 40% share – a historical minimum that represents half that of the last elections, in 2018 – in the Asian country, where more than 113 million people were called to the polls.
Some 1,900 candidates from up to 28 political parties – most of them belonging to Hasina’s Awami League or supported by this formation – competed 299 of the 300 parliamentary seats up for grabsafter the authorities suspended voting in a constituency due to the death of a candidate.
The opponent Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies boycotted the elections due to Hasina’s refusal to dissolve her Government and to appoint an interim Administration to supervise the elections. In addition to not presenting candidates, the BNP called a 48 hour general strike which began yesterday to discourage voters from going to the polls. The opposition formation has denounced a campaign of state repression over the past few months, with more than 24,000 of its leaders and followers arrested by security forces.
Along with the BNP, dozens of anti-Government parties decided not to participate in the elections, since they considered that they would not be free or fair. They also feared that the irregularities of the previous elections, won by Prime Minister Hasina, would be repeated. in office since 2009and who already headed a first term between 1996 and 2001.