16 killed in election violence in Bangladesh
Early results indicate victory for PM Sheikh Hasina
DHAKA: People in Bangladesh voted on Sunday in parliamentary elections seen as a referendum on what critics call Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s increasingly authoritarian rule, amid complaints from both ruling party and opposition activists of attacks on supporters and candidates. Sixteen people were reportedly killed in election-related violence.
Hasina’s main rival is former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, the leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, who a court deemed ineligible to run for office because she is in prison for corruption.
Zia and Hasina, who is seeking a third consecutive term, have been in and out of power — and prison — for decades.
DHAKA: Voting in a tense election to choose a new government in Bangladesh ended on Sunday with at least 17 people killed in violence amid allegations of manipulation by the ruling Awami League Party led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
According to the Election Commission (EC), 1,848 candidates are contesting for 299 out of 300 seats in the Parliament. The polls are being held at 40,183 polling stations. Voting was suspended in one seat due to the death of a candidate.
While Hasina is seeking re-election for a fourth term as the prime minister, her chief rival, ex-premier and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Khalida Zia, who is reportedly partially paralysed, faces an uncertain future in a Dhaka jail.
Hasina is expected to win the elections, with early results giving her a clear lead. Several candidates pulled out during the voting alleging rigging.
“Preparations are is underway to start the counting,” an Election Commission spokesman said. The initial results are expected by Monday morning, which would be announced by the commission headquarters in the capital. EC officials said they have received over a hundred complaints from candidates throughout the country amid reports of violence.
At least 17 people, including a member of a security agency, have been killed in eight districts, The Daily Star newspaper reported.
The build-up to the election had already been marred by violence. Reports said most of the dead were ruling party activists while others were workers of opposition BNP or its allies.
Hasina appeared as the first voter in Dhaka centre from where her nephew and party candidate Fazle Nur Taposh was a contender.
“I’m always confident about our victory in the elections. I trust my people and I know that they will choose us so that they can get a better life in future,” she said after casting her vote.
Schools and colleges across Bangladesh were turned into makeshift polling centres for the day while people had begun to line up to cast their vote even before the election opened.
At least 10 candidates - mostly BNP nominees - announced to stay off the polls alleging that their agents were ousted from polling centres by the ruling party workers.
BNP’s Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged that polling centres are being occupied across the country, the party’s agents are being driven out and that supporters and activists are facing violence.
“This is a violent election. We are seeing a one-sided election environment conducted at the whims of the government,” Rizvi told reporters.
Veteran lawyer Kamal Hossain, who leads the main opposition alliance National Unity Front (NUF) with BNP being its key partner, said “the overall environment is not bad” with huge turnout of voters.
Over 600,000 security personnel including several thousand soldiers and paramilitary border guards were deployed across the country to help conduct the election in which 104.2 million people were eligible to vote.