Bangladesh Votes In First Election Since Mass Protests Toppled Government

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh held Thursday first choice since 2024 rite Protests topple Sheikh Hasina’s government. The vote was seen as a critical test and was mostly peaceful. country’s democracy After years of political turmoil.

After a slow start, crowds gathered at polling stations in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere later in the day. The Election Commission said that as of 2 p.m., more than 47% of voters had cast ballots. The ballot boxes closed at 16.30 and counting began. Results are expected on Friday.

At a polling station in Dhaka, poll officials manually counted black-and-white paper ballots and checked the validity of each before tabulating the results. While political party representatives were present as election observers, security officers also followed the elections closely.

more than that 127 million people have the right to vote What was the first election held in the country since then? Hasina’s dismissal After weeks of mass protests, many Generation Z uprising. Hasina fled the country and is living in exile in India after her party was barred from the polls.

Tariq Rahman The Bangladesh Nationalist Party is one of the leading candidates to form the next government. He is the son of the old Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and returned to Bangladesh in December after 17 years in exile in London. Rahman has promised to rebuild democratic institutions, restore the rule of law and revive the struggling economy.

Challenging the BNP is an 11-party alliance led by it. Jamaat-e-IslamiIt is the country’s largest Islamist party, which was banned under Hasina but has gained prominence since her ouster. The growing influence of the conservative religious group has raised concerns, especially among men and women. minority communitiesHe said that if they came to power, social freedoms could come under pressure. More than 90 percent of Bangladesh is Muslim and 8 percent is Hindu.

Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shafikur Rahman expressed optimism after casting his vote at a ballot box.

He told The Associated Press that the election was “a turning point.” “People want change. They desire change. We want change, too.”

Interim leader of Bangladesh Muhammad Yunus He said he was optimistic about the election and that it was a moment of national joy.

“This is a day of great happiness. Today is the birthday of the new Bangladesh,” Yunus told reporters while voting in Dhaka’s Gulshan district and visiting other stations.

The interim government, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Yunus, said it was determined to hold a credible and transparent election. As part of this effort, around 500 international observers and foreign journalists will be present, including delegations from the European Union and the Commonwealth of Nations to which Bangladesh belongs.

There are 350 seats in the Bangladesh Parliament300 are directly elected from single-member constituencies and 50 are reserved for women. Deputies are elected by majority and the parliament has a five-year term. The Election Commission recently postponed voting in a constituency following the death of a candidate.

The election followed a turbulent period marked by mob violence. Attacks on Hindu minorities and the press, the growing influence of Islamists and the weakening of the rule of law.

This could reshape the internal stability of Bangladesh, a country whose post-1971 history has been marked by entrenched political parties, military coups and allegations of vote rigging since independence from Pakistan. young votersThose, many of whom played central roles in the 2024 uprising, are expected to be influential. Approximately 5 million first-time voters are eligible to vote.

“I think this is a very important election because for the first time we can express our opinions freely,” said 28-year-old Ikram ul Haque, adding that past elections were far from fair.

“We are celebrating the election, it’s like a holiday here,” he said. “I hope Bangladesh will grow exponentially.”

Thursday’s elections are a critical test not only of leadership but also of confidence in Bangladesh’s democratic future. Voters can say “Yes” to approve major reform proposals resulting from a reform. national charter signed by major political parties last year.

Yunus was also excited about the referendum. “Voting for a candidate is important, but the referendum is also very important. The whole of Bangladesh will change,” he said.

If a majority of voters are in favor of a referendum, the newly elected Parliament can create a constitutional reform council to make changes within 180 working days of its first session. The proposals include the creation of new constitutional bodies and the transformation of Parliament from a single body to a bicameral legislature, with the upper house having the power to amend the constitution by majority vote.

BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami signed the document with some changes after initially expressing some opposition.

Hasina’s Awami League party (still a major party in Bangladesh despite being banned from the polls) and some of her former allies were excluded from the debate. Exiled Hasina condemned the election for excluding her party.

Some critics also said the referendum limited the options available to voters.