Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Tarique Rahman is set to become the country's next prime minister after his party secured 209 seats in the country's first election since a student-led uprising in 2024.
According to unofficial results confirmed by election officials, the BNP has easily crossed the 151-seat threshold needed for a majority in parliament. The party was followed by Jamaat-e-Islami, which secured 68 seats in Thursday's polls.
The Election Commission has yet to formally announce the final tally, which is expected either later on Friday or on Saturday. Turnout stood at almost 60 percent of registered voters, according to the Election Commission.
Election Background
The election featured a record number of parties, with more than 50 participating, and at least 2,000 candidates, many of them independents. The parliament comprises 350 lawmakers, with 50 seats reserved for women.
More than 127 million people were eligible to cast their votes, with many expressing enthusiasm for what was widely seen as Bangladesh's first competitive vote in years. An interim government led by Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus has been in office since Hasina fled to India in 2024.
International Response
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and the US ambassador to Bangladesh, Brent T Christensen, were among the first to congratulate Rahman on his party's victory. China's embassy in Dhaka also congratulated the BNP over its election showing.
Abbas Faiz, an independent South Asia researcher, said the election was a test of how Bangladesh was “ready for democracy”. He added that the election is the “litmus test” which puts responsibility on the “shoulders of the new government”.
Fahmida Khatun, an economist and executive director of the Dhaka-based Centre for Policy Dialogue, told Al Jazeera that early signals support the perception of a credible election. Although heavy security was reported across polling stations, “broadly, the voting was peaceful”, Khatun said.
Source: Al Jazeera
