As expected, Sheikh Hasina will stand for a fifth term as Prime Minister of Bangladesh after winning the Bangladeshi parliamentary elections. The AFP news agency reported this on Sunday based on the national election commission. According to the latest counts, her party Awami League has won 216 of the 299 seats. All votes are expected to be counted on Monday.
The 76-year-old Hasina has been in power in Bangladesh continuously since 2009, making her the longest-serving 'elected' female leader in the world. The daughter of Bangladesh's first prime minister was also in power between 1996 and 2001.
International observers have openly questioned the validity of Hasina's previous election wins, and this year too the election outcome was predetermined. The turnout was therefore extremely low: only 40 percent. In the previous elections in 2018, 80 percent of those eligible to vote showed up. The main opposition BNP party, silenced by Hasina and labeled as 'terrorist organisations', has boycotted the “sham elections” and called on voters to do the same.
Authoritarian leadership
Although Bangladesh's economy has experienced strong growth under Prime Minister Hasina, partly thanks to a flourishing textile industry, democracy has suffered from her authoritarian style of leadership. Activists, trade union leaders and critical journalists are arrested under her regime, while loyalists are given important positions.
On election day, the Bangladeshi government deployed around 800,000 soldiers on Sunday to maintain order at polling stations. Nevertheless, the day did not go smoothly: two bombs exploded at a polling station in the capital Dhaka, injuring four people. Not far from the capital, a supporter of an Awami League candidate was stabbed to death. People set fires at polling stations in various places in Bangladesh.
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