Tamanna Akter was roaming around the Dhaka University campus on Friday, a day after Bangladesh’s election and referendum.
Dhaka, the nation’s capital, was still largely empty as many residents went home to cast their ballots in the election, the first since the fall of Sheikh Hasina during a bloody uprising against her authoritarian government on August 5, 2024.
An interim government led by the country’s only Nobel laureate, Muhammad Yunus, was tasked with conducting a free and fair election and implementing reform initiatives.
Yunus championed a sweeping democratic reform charter to overhaul what he called a “completely broken” system of government and to prevent a return to one-party rule.
Akter, a student and first-time voter, feels the change. “It’s a fair election. I haven’t seen an election as fair as this one,” she told DW.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) celebrated a landslide victory on Friday. The party’s leader, Tarique Rahman, is poised to become prime minister.
Akter has many expectations of the new government, and her face brightened with hope for a corruption-free country as she spoke to DW.
“First, I want a corruption-free Bangladesh. Then comes security. Gender equity must be ensured regardless of gender. It should be for everyone. Security must be ensured. If the new government fails here, then we won’t find a difference between the new and previous regime,” she said.
Islamist party claims voting count problems
While the country is largely in a festive mood after the election, Shafiqur Rahamn, the head of Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, said Friday he will demand action by the Election Commission, alleging problems with vote counting in the Thursday polls.
“There were massive irregularities in vote counting,” Shafiqur Rahman told reporters Friday evening. “We will seek redress from the Election Commission.”
Jamaat-e-Islami formed an electoral alliance with some centrist and liberal parties to present a moderate approach ahead of the election.
It was not clear whether the alliance had nevertheless conceded defeat, and the Jamaat chief did not clarify whether they would join parliament. He declined to answer questions. There have also been reports of attacks on the supporters and members of the alliance after the election.
Election Commission figures said the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) alliance had won 212 seats, compared with 77 for the Jamaat-e-Islami alliance.
Tarique Rahman, the BNP leader, had told DW two days before polling he was “confident” that his party, crushed during the autocratic 15-year rule of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, would regain power in the South Asian nation of over 170 million people.
”We are very confident, if God is willing, we will get the mandate of the people of Bangladesh and form a government on our own,” he told DW.
Voters also endorsed proposals in the referendum, including prime ministerial term limits, a new upper house of parliament, stronger presidential powers and greater judicial independence. The referendum passed with 60% in favor of the changes.
Voters hope for an inclusive Bangladesh society
Dhaka University was the epicenter of the uprising that saw violent protests against Sheikh Hasina, which spread all over the country and saw several hundred deaths and many injuries. A graffiti of her, symbolising public outrage over lives lost during the uprising, is still visible there.
Hasina has been living in exile in India since then, and a special court in Dhaka announced the death sentence against her for crimes against humanity during the uprising. The ousted former prime minister has denied the allegations.
Jahangir Alam, a visually impaired job holder who voted on Thursday, hailed the interim government for conducting a credible election. He hopes that the reform initiatives will be fruitful soon.
”The uprising aimed at ensuring human rights for everyone and creating a country of anti-discrimination. I believe the new government will be able to fulfil the aim with zero tolerance on corruption,” he told DW.
“The government should indiscriminately support everyone. It should create an inclusive society by including every religion, class and disability.”
How participatory was the Bangladesh election?
Voter turnout in Thursday’s election stood at 59.44%, a strong figure compared to previous elections in the country. However, analysts think the election could have been more inclusive had Sheikh Hasina’s party, the Awami League, been able to take part. The party’s activities have been banned pending trial.
Navine Murshid, a Professor in the Department of Political Science and Sociology at North South University, Dhaka, believes that including one of the country’s largest parties would have shown how much support it still holds.
“For a long time in Bangladesh, there has been a fear that the country is turning right-wing … everyone is [now supporting] Jamaat, everyone is becoming religious, etc. From that perspective, this was a very important election, even though it wasn’t 100% participatory,” she told DW.
”If everyone has indeed become Jamaat, we need to know. If not, we also need to know what Jamaat’s actual support is like because banning them makes it impossible to find out. The same holds true for the Awami League.
”It would have been best if the Awami League could have participated in some way so the people could say, ‘No, we don’t want the Awami League.’ By excluding them, a speculation remains that there was support for the party, but voters couldn’t vote,” Murshid said.
She noted that although the Jamaat-e-Islami, which was briefly banned during the uprising and had suffered greatly during Hasina’s tenure, didn’t win the election, it was able to demonstrate that support for the party has increased over time. However, Murshid added that the party still lacks credibility despite its moderate approach.
“When the party says women cannot be in leadership roles, they are making an anti-democratic statement. They’ve learned to say some good, progressive, or moderate things, but whether they truly mean it is doubtful. They haven’t built that credibility,” she said.
”They still try to impose conservative ideas on the public regarding clothing, leadership, and what women can do or their place in the home.”