The Bangladesh general elections held on Sunday were marked by a low voter turnout and sporadic clashes, including an incident that left one person dead. The elections were held amid calls for a strike and boycott by several parties, including the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
According to the country’s Election Commission, less than one-third of the eligible voters had cast their votes an hour before the scheduled end of polling. EC Secretary Jahangir Alam reported a voter turnout of 27.15 percent as of 3 PM. The final voting percentage was awaited as the counting of votes began immediately after the end of polling at 4 PM local time.
The voting commenced at 8 AM local time across over 42,000 voting centers, with 299 parliamentary seats up for grabs. Reports of low voter turnout and very few incidents of irregularities or violence were received throughout the day, according to Bangladesh’s leading media outlet, The Daily Star.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina cast her vote in a polling booth in the national capital, Dhaka. The presiding officers of two polling centers attributed the somewhat low turnout to the cold weather.
In a significant development, the Election Commission scrapped the candidature of ruling Awami League’s Mostafizur Rahman Chowdhury in Chittagong after he threatened law enforcement officials. As per Bangladesh law, the election will now be held among the other contesting candidates of the concerned constituency.
Sporadic clashes were reported after voting began in the morning. According to a Xinhua report, supporters of an independent candidate attacked a man and fatally stabbed him with a sharp weapon, resulting in his death. Police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.
Another clash broke out between police and members of the BNP in Chattogram. The BNP, Jamat-e Islami, the Left Democratic Front, and several other opposition parties called for a strike on Sunday. These parties boycotted the polls and urged people not to vote, describing the elections as a “farce”. They demanded the resignation of the Awami League government of Sheikh Hasina and the holding of polls under a neutral caretaker government, a practice followed on several occasions in the past.
(With inputs from agency)
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