Votes are being counted in Bangladesh after its first election since student-led protests ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024. More than 2,000 candidates are vying for 300 elected seats in parliament, though none from the banned Awami League of Hasina, who fled after 15 years in power after a brutal security crackdown in which hundreds of protesters were killed.
The election pits the centre-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) against a coalition led by the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami, which joined forces with a party born out of the student uprising. Results are expected on Friday and there's widespread hope among voters of a return to democracy.
For the first time since 2008, the outcome of an election in Bangladesh cannot be predicted with certainty. The past few elections were widely condemned as systematically rigged in favour of Sheikh Hasina. She has been convicted and sentenced to death in absentia for ordering a brutal crackdown against protesters 18 months ago, in which the UN says as many as 1,400 protesters were killed.
Hasina is in exile in India from where she's rejected the charges against her and has questioned the legitimacy of the election. The ban on her Awami League contesting the polls casts a shadow over whether this election can be described as free and fair. But, for the first time in years, voters on the ground were telling the BBC they feel like they have a choice.
More than 120 million people were eligible to vote, about four in 10 of them under 37. They were also casting their ballots in a referendum on constitutional change, which was proposed by the interim government that replaced Hasina and is aimed at fixing what it has called a completely broken political system.
Speaking after voting, Bangladesh's interim leader - the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus - said the country had 'ended the nightmare and begun a new dream'. Turnout had reached 49% by 14:00 local time (08:00 GMT).
Nearly a million police and soldiers have been deployed to maintain law and order. Yunus voted in the capital Dhaka, as did the two leading candidates, Tarique Rahman for the BNP and Jamaat's leader Shafiqur Rahman. Before casting his ballot, Rahman expressed confidence about the election, stating he had been waiting 'more than a decade' for this day.
Both the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami have a long history in Bangladesh, and both were crushed along with other opponents of Hasina under her long rule. Rahman, the son of the late Khaleda Zia, who was Bangladesh's first female prime minister, might be the front-runner for prime minister, but Jamaat is expected to mount a serious challenge. The election marks a new chapter in Bangladesh's political landscape as citizens engage more deeply in the democratic process.}
The election pits the centre-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) against a coalition led by the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami, which joined forces with a party born out of the student uprising. Results are expected on Friday and there's widespread hope among voters of a return to democracy.
For the first time since 2008, the outcome of an election in Bangladesh cannot be predicted with certainty. The past few elections were widely condemned as systematically rigged in favour of Sheikh Hasina. She has been convicted and sentenced to death in absentia for ordering a brutal crackdown against protesters 18 months ago, in which the UN says as many as 1,400 protesters were killed.
Hasina is in exile in India from where she's rejected the charges against her and has questioned the legitimacy of the election. The ban on her Awami League contesting the polls casts a shadow over whether this election can be described as free and fair. But, for the first time in years, voters on the ground were telling the BBC they feel like they have a choice.
More than 120 million people were eligible to vote, about four in 10 of them under 37. They were also casting their ballots in a referendum on constitutional change, which was proposed by the interim government that replaced Hasina and is aimed at fixing what it has called a completely broken political system.
Speaking after voting, Bangladesh's interim leader - the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus - said the country had 'ended the nightmare and begun a new dream'. Turnout had reached 49% by 14:00 local time (08:00 GMT).
Nearly a million police and soldiers have been deployed to maintain law and order. Yunus voted in the capital Dhaka, as did the two leading candidates, Tarique Rahman for the BNP and Jamaat's leader Shafiqur Rahman. Before casting his ballot, Rahman expressed confidence about the election, stating he had been waiting 'more than a decade' for this day.
Both the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami have a long history in Bangladesh, and both were crushed along with other opponents of Hasina under her long rule. Rahman, the son of the late Khaleda Zia, who was Bangladesh's first female prime minister, might be the front-runner for prime minister, but Jamaat is expected to mount a serious challenge. The election marks a new chapter in Bangladesh's political landscape as citizens engage more deeply in the democratic process.}
