Bangladesh Election Delivers Strong Mandate for BNP

DHAKA-(Special Correspondent/Web Desk)-The Bangladesh National Party (BNP) achieved a decisive two-thirds majority on Friday in general elections, a result expected to bring political stability after months of unrest following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a youth-led uprising.

Preliminary counts in what observers called Bangladesh’s first genuinely competitive election in years show the BNP and its allies winning at least 213 of the 299 seats, while the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies secured 76 seats in the Jatiya Sangsad (House of the Nation).

Returning to power after 20 years, the BNP expressed gratitude to the public and requested nationwide prayers for the country, announcing that no celebratory rallies or processions would be held despite the sweeping victory.

The clear outcome is seen as crucial for stabilizing the Muslim-majority nation of 175 million, which has faced months of anti-Hasina protests that disrupted daily life and key industries, including the globally significant garment sector.

BNP leader Tarique Rahman, son of the party’s founder Ziaur Rahman, is widely expected to be sworn in as prime minister after returning to Dhaka in December following 18 years abroad.

Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, 85, held office as interim head after Hasina fled to neighbouring India in August 2024.

Now in exile in New Delhi, Hasina long dominated Bangladesh politics along with Rahman’s mother, Khaleda Zia, while his father was a leading independence figure who ruled from 1977 to 1981 before he was assassinated.

Manual counting of paper ballots will run until at least noon on Friday, officials said, since starting on Thursday immediately after polls closed.

The BNP win with more than 200 seats is one of its biggest, surpassing its 2001 victory with 193, although Hasina’s Awami League, which ruled for 15 years and was barred from contesting this time, secured a bigger tally of 230 in 2008.

But bigger tallies for both parties in elections of other years were widely seen as one-sided, boycotted or contentious.

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Nightime throngs of supporters cheered and shouted slogans at the BNP headquarters in Dhaka as the scale of the party’s landslide became clear.

The head of its main rival, the Jamaat-e-Islami, conceded defeat and vowed that his party would not engage in the “politics of opposition” just for the sake of doing so.

“We will do positive politics,” Shafiqur Rahman told reporters.

However, the National Citizen Party (NCP), led by youth activists who played a key role in toppling Hasina and was a part of the Jamaat-led alliance, won just five of the 30 seats it contested.

Turnout appeared on track to exceed the 42% of the last election in 2024, with media saying more than 60% of registered voters were expected to have participated.

More than 2,000 candidates, many independents among them, were on the ballot, which featured a record number of at least 50 parties. Voting in one constituency was postponed after a candidate died.

Broadcaster Jamuna TV said more than 2 million voters chose “Yes”, while more than 850,000 said “No” in a referendum on constitutional reforms held alongside the election, but there was no official word on the outcome.

The changes include two-term limits for prime ministers and stronger judicial independence and women’s representation while providing for neutral interim governments during election periods, and setting up a second house of the 300-seat parliament.