The election comes amid complaints from both ruling party and opposition activists of attacks on supporters and candidates.Hasina’s main rival is former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, the leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, who a court deemed ineligible to run for office because she is in prison for corruption.
Zia and Hasina, who is seeking a third consecutive term, have been in and out of power – and prison – for decades.In Zia’s absence, opposition parties have formed a coalition led by Kamal Hossain, an 82-year-old Oxford-educated lawyer and former member of Hasina’s Awami League party.The election campaign was marred by the arrests and jailing of what the opposition says are thousands of Hasina opponents, including six candidates for Parliament.
At least a dozen people were killed in campaign-related clashes.
At least a dozen people were killed in campaign-related clashes.
Both sides were hoping to avoid a repeat of 2014, when Zia and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party boycotted elections and voter turnout in the South Asian nation of 160 million people was only 22 percent.
More than half of the 300 parliamentary seats were uncontested.
The Awami League’s landslide victory was met by violence that left at least 22 people dead.
