Bangladesh Votes Amid Historic Political Shift
Votes are being counted in Bangladesh following the country’s first election since student-led protests forced the long-time prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, into exile in 2024. Over 2,000 candidates are contesting 350 parliamentary seats. Hasina’s Awami League, banned from participating after her departure, is absent from the ballot for the first time in decades. The election pits the centre-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) against a coalition led by the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami, which has allied with the student-led National Citizen Party (NCP). With results expected Friday, many voters are hopeful for a return to democratic governance. For the first time since 2008, the outcome is uncertain, following years of elections widely criticized as rigged in Hasina’s favour. Hasina, now sentenced to death in absentia over a brutal crackdown on protests that killed hundreds, remains in exile in India, rejecting the charges and […]