On Sunday the 30th of December 2018, Bangladesh held what has been billed its most competitive election in ten years.
Millions of citizens gathered to vote for members of a new parliament in the middle of reports of violent clashes between supporters of the ruling party and its fiercest opposition.
Polling stations in the country closed at 4;00pm local time and counting began soon afterwards.
According to Al Jazeera, “around 600,000 security personnel, including soldiers, were deployed across the country in a bid to prevent violence following a bloody campaign.” However, this did not prevent the deaths of at least 10 people who were killed during the election process on the day.
Despite the death toll, the country’s ministry of information secretary, Mr. Abdul Malik, noted that the overall ambience of the election was peaceful and calm, adding that “results will be announced in collaboration with the election commission.”
According to the country’s electoral commission, more than 104 million people were registered to vote in the elections. These citizens were in charge of choosing candidates to fill 299 parliamentary seats. A total of 1,841 candidates from the Grand Alliance, led by the ruling Awami League (AL) party, and the opposition alliance, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), competed in the country’s 11th general elections.
Results and the future Bangladesh’s democracy
The results have been announced and, according to the Washington Post, the results were anything but close. “The incumbent prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and her ruling coalition won 288 out of 300 seats in Parliament,” a worrying margin of victory for a democratic nation.
The opposition rejected the lopsided results, saying: “We call upon the election commission to declare this farcical election void and demand a fresh election.”
In response, the chief election commissioner dismissed the demand for a new election and noted that the results will pave the way for Sheikh Hasina (the incumbent prime minister) to continue her “formula for maintaining power: strong economic growth coupled with repression of political opponents and critics of her government.”
