DHAKA — The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Friday claimed a landslide victory in the country’s first parliamentary elections election since the 2024 uprising that toppled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina after decades in power.A clear outcome was crucial to restoring political stability in the South Asian nation of 175 million after months of deadly anti-Hasina unrest disrupted everyday life and hit major industries, including the apparel sector in the world’s second-largest garment exporter.The voters have given BNP, led by Tarique Rahman, a resounding mandate to form Bangladesh’s next government and potentially reshape the Muslim-majority country’s political landscape after years of intense rivalry and disputed polls.Rahman, the 60-year-old son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and former President Ziaur Rahman, returned to Bangladesh in December after 17 years in self-exile in London. The party’s media unit in a post on X Friday said it had secured enough seats in Parliament to govern on its own. Final results have not yet been announced by the Election Commission, though several local media outlets reported the party’s resounding victory.Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, senior joint secretary-general of the BNP, extended congratulations to the people of Bangladesh on the party’s electoral victory in a statement. Separately, Saleh Shibly, press secretary to Rahman, said the BNP leader called on his supporters to hold special prayers alongside the weekly Friday service and not to hold any celebratory processions.Soon after it won a majority in the overnight vote-count, the party thanked and congratulated the people and called for special prayers on Friday for the welfare of the country and its people.“Despite winning the national parliamentary election by a large margin of votes, no celebratory procession or rally shall be organized by BNP,” the party said in a statement and urged people to pray at mosques, temples, churches and pagodas across the country.Shafiqur Rahman, the head of BNP’s main rival, the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami, conceded defeat, with his party-led alliance on just 68 seats. Rahman said Jamaat would not engage in the “politics of opposition” for the sake of it. “We will do positive politics,” he told reporters.The National Citizen Party (NCP), led by youth activists who were instrumental in toppling Hasina and was a part of the Jamaat-led alliance, won just five of 30 seats it contested.Despite the landslide result, the election had been seen as Bangladesh’s first truly competitive vote in years. Hasina’s Awami League party, which ruled the country for more than 15 years until her ousting, was barred from contesting.Turnout appeared on track on Thursday to exceed the 42% recorded in the last election in 2024. Local media reported that more than 60% of registered voters were expected to have cast ballots.More than 2,000 candidates, including many independents, were on the ballot, and at least 50 parties contested seats, a national record. Voting in one constituency was postponed after a candidate died.Alongside the election, a referendum was held on a set of constitutional reforms, including establishing a neutral interim government for election periods, restructuring parliament into a bicameral legislature, increasing women’s representation, strengthening judicial independence and introducing a two-term limit for the prime minister.There was no official word on the outcome of the referendum. Leading local newspaper the Daily Star reported that 73% of the nearly 296,000 votes cast in the referendum said ‘Yes’ and the rest said ‘No’.Hasina is in self-imposed exile in long-term ally India, which has frayed ties between Dhaka and New Delhi and opened the window for China to expand its influence in Bangladesh.In a statement sent after polling stations closed, Hasina denounced the election as a “carefully planned farce”, held without her party and without real voter participation. She said Awami League supporters had rejected the process.“We demand the cancellation of this voterless, illegal and unconstitutional election … the removal of the suspension imposed on the activities of the Awami League, and the restoration of the people’s voting rights through the arrangement of a free, fair, and inclusive election under a neutral caretaker government,” she said. — Agencies
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