The ruling Awami League (AL) party of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has secured a historic fourth term in office, winning more than 70 percent of parliamentary seats in Bangladesh’s general elections. The Election Commission (EC) officials declared the results of around 290 seats on Sunday night.
The general elections were held on Sunday to elect 299 members of parliament. However, voting at one constituency was postponed due to the death of a candidate. Over 260 candidates from the ruling AL party participated in the national elections. The voting began at 8:00 a.m. local time and concluded at 4:00 p.m. local time in over 42,000 voting centers nationwide.
Foreign election observers, who roamed around different polling centers openly since Sunday morning, described the polls as free, fair, peaceful, successful, and legitimate. In Bangladesh, a party can form a government if it manages to clinch 151 seats of parliament in total.
The ruling AL party first rose to power with a landslide election victory in 2009 and won its second term in 2014 and the third term in 2018. There are nearly 120 million registered voters in the South Asian country. The EC reported that 27 percent of the votes were cast in the first seven hours from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. local time on Sunday.
AL President and Prime Minister Hasina cast her vote at the Dhaka City College polling center at around 8:03 a.m. local time, according to local media reports. To facilitate the voting process, a public holiday was declared across the country.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on her victory for a historic fourth consecutive term in Bangladesh’s parliamentary elections. “I also congratulate the people of Bangladesh for the successful conduct of elections,” Modi said.
Leaders from India, China, Russia, and South Asian countries congratulated PM Hasina on her election victory. In a message shared on X, the Indian PM said, “We are committed to further strengthen our enduring and people-centric partnership with Bangladesh.”
A global media for the latest news, entertainment, music fashion, and more.