(Adnkronos) – The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Tarique Rahman, son of former premier Khaleda Zia who died last December, has claimed victory in the general elections held yesterday in Bangladesh. Projections assign a clear majority in Parliament to the political force and its allies. “Voters have given a mandate to our party for the next five years,” Nazrul Islam Khan, BNP’s election coordinator, told reporters in Dhaka.
According to Somoy Television, the political force would have won 208 of the 350 parliamentary seats, while the opposing coalition, led by Jamaat-e-Islami, would have stopped at around 70. The final results are expected today.
Jamaat-e-Islami, in a note released on Facebook, announced that it is “not satisfied with the process concerning the election results,” thanking voters for participating in the vote, but specifying that there are “strong doubts about the integrity of the counting operations” and denouncing the “narrow and suspicious defeat of BNP candidates” in some unspecified constituencies. Furthermore, there were criticisms of the Electoral Commission for its reluctance to publish turnout data.
Yesterday’s were the first consultations since the end, two years ago, of the Sheikh Hasina era, leader of the Awami League, who was banned from the vote. Since then, the country has been led by an interim administration headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus.
Voters also voted on a series of constitutional reforms to turn a new page. For the Electoral Commission, it was a success. “We had promised absolutely neutral and credible elections to the country, and we believe we have succeeded,” official Nasir Uddin told reporters.
