THE OUTCOME of the election due to be held in Bangladesh on January 7th is not uncertain. Sheikh Hasina, who has governed the South Asian country since 2009, has made sure that only she can win. Her government has locked up politicians from the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which plans to boycott the election, silenced journalists and curbed the activities of NGOs. Sheikh Hasina, who heads the Awami League, has ruled repressively since she won back power from her nemesis, Khaleda Zia of the BNP, in an election 15 years ago. Some Bangladeshis accept the undermining of democracy as a price worth paying for the development that Sheikh Hasina’s government has brought. Bangladesh, which today has a population of 170m, is doing better on many measures than India, its giant neighbour, and Pakistan, the country from which it broke away in 1971. It has higher literacy and female-employment rates. Since 2016 economic growth has exceeded 7% a year.
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