The Bangladesh Nationalist Party won a decisive two-thirds majority in the general election, a result expected to bring stability after months of tumult following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a Generation Z-led uprising.
The latest election counts, seen as the South Asian country’s first truly competitive election in years, showed the BNP and its allies up for grabs at least 212 of the 299 seats, domestic TV channels said on Friday.
The opposition Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies won 70 seats in parliament.
The BNP, which returns to power after two decades, thanked the people shortly after securing a majority in the counting of votes and on Friday called for special prayers for the nation and its people.
“Despite the victory… with a large margin of votes, no festive parade or gathering will be organised,” the party said in a statement.
The National Citizen Party (NCP), led by youth activists who played a key role in toppling Hasina and was part of the Jamaat-led alliance, won only five of the 30 seats they contested.
A clear outcome was seen as key to stability in the Muslim-majority country of 175 million, after months of deadly anti-Hasina unrest disrupted daily life and industries such as clothing, where Bangladesh ranks second globally.
“A strong majority gives BNP the parliamentary strength to implement reforms efficiently and avoid legislative paralysis. That alone can create political stability in the short term,” Selim Raihan, an economics professor at the University of Dhaka, told Reuters news agency.
BNP leader Tarique Rahman is widely expected to be sworn in as prime minister. The son of the party’s founder, former President Ziaur Rahman, he returned to the capital Dhaka in December after 18 years abroad.
In its manifesto, the BNP pledged to prioritize job creation, protecting low-income and marginal households and ensuring fair prices for farmers.
“If the factories run regularly and we get our wages on time, that’s what matters to us. I just want the BNP government to bring back stability so that more orders come to Bangladesh and we can survive,” Josna Begum, 28, a garment worker and mother of two, told Reuters after the results.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and US Ambassador to Bangladesh Brent T. Christensen were among the first to congratulate Rahman on his party’s victory.
BNP supporters celebrate
The Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami conceded defeat late on Thursday evening as the trends became clear, but said in a statement on Friday that it was “not satisfied” with the process and asked its followers to remain patient.
Now in exile in New Delhi, Hasina long dominated Bangladesh’s politics along with Rahman’s mother, Khaleda Zia, while his father was a leading independence figure who ruled from 1977 to 1981 before he was assassinated.
The BNP victory of more than 200 seats is one of the largest, surpassing the 2001 victory by 193, although Hasina’s Awami League, which ruled for fifteen years and was excluded from participation this time, achieved a larger number of 230 in 2008.
But elections in other years were boycotted by one of the main parties or were controversial.
Last night, large numbers of supporters cheered and shouted slogans at the BNP headquarters in Dhaka as the scale of the party’s landslide became clear.
Turnout surpassed the 42 percent of the last election in 2024, while media reports showed nearly 60 percent of registered voters participated in the election on Thursday.
More than 2,000 candidates, including many independents, took part in the vote, with a record number of at least 50 parties. In one constituency, voting was postponed after a candidate died.
Broadcaster Jamuna TV said more than 2 million voters chose ‘Yes’ while more than 850,000 said ‘No’ in a referendum on constitutional reforms held alongside the election, but there was no official word on the outcome.
The changes include a two-term limit for prime ministers and stronger judicial independence and women’s representation, while providing for neutral interim governments during election periods, and the creation of a 300-seat second house of parliament.
Peaceful polls
Party workers spent the whole night outside the BNP offices.
“We will join the nation-building efforts led by Tarique Rahman,” the 45-year-old Md. said. Fazlur Rahman to Agence France-Presse.
“We have suffered a lot in the past seventeen years.”
Heavy security forces have been deployed across the country, and UN experts warned ahead of the vote of “increasing intolerance, threats and attacks” and a “tsunami of disinformation”.
Political clashes killed five people and injured more than 600 during the campaign, police data show.
But election day was largely peaceful, according to the election commission, which reported only “a few minor disruptions.”
‘An end to the nightmare’
Interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who will step down once the new government comes to power, urged everyone to remain calm.
“We may have differences, but we must remain united in the greater national interest,” he said.
The 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has led Bangladesh since Hasina’s rule ended when she was ousted in August 2024.
His government banned its Awami League party from participating in the elections.
Yunus said the elections had “ended the nightmare and begun a new dream”.
Hasina, 78, sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity, issued a statement denouncing an “illegal and unconstitutional election.”
Yunus has advocated a sweeping democratic reform charter to overhaul what he called a “completely broken” system of government and prevent a return to one-party rule.
Voters also took part in a referendum on proposals for prime ministerial term limits, a new House of Lords, stronger presidential powers and greater judicial independence.
Television projections suggested that 65 percent of the vote had endorsed the charter.
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