INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
won a fourth consecutive term, winning almost 75% of the seats
rank and file members had been arrested en masse and kept in terrible conditions in overcrowded prisons, while opposition protests were met
with heavy police violence
At least nine BNP leaders and supporters have died in jail in the past three months, according to the opposition.As she cast her vote on
industry in the country of 170 million people once beset by grinding poverty, but her government has been accused by human rights groups and
political opponents of rampant human rights abuses and pushing the country towards authoritarian one-party rule.Hasina has denied
allegations of authoritarianism and on the election trail claimed her policies has put the country on a pathway of stability, secularism and
government to ensure it was not rigged
As the results were announced, BNP leaders came out in unison to condemn the polls.Tarique Rahman, the BNP chairman who lives in exile in
thrill, no choice before the votes to choose their representatives
Voters did not have any role to play
prior to the election, including an arson attack on a train in the capital Dhaka which killed four people and on polling day on Sunday, over
800,000 police were deployed across the country.On election day, BNP supporters in Chattogram were hit with teargas and rubber bullets as
they attempted to blockade roads in support of the strike, and in Dhaka, a crude bomb explosion occurred near a polling station, injuring
three people.Voting at several polling centres was also halted voting due to allegations of election fraud, conflict, and forced ballot
stuffing, the same alleged irregularities and rigging that marred the two previous elections that brought Hasina to power.The crackdown on
the opposition and the alleged forgone nature of the polls appeared to have a significant impact on voter turnout
However, this figure was promptly revised during the briefing by other officials, who corrected it to about 40%, half the turnout of the
previous election in 2018.Voter apathy was evident in polling centres which were strikingly deserted on election day.Shamsuddin, 47, who
only used one name, was among those who chose not to vote
The masses have rejected this mock election
BNP, which was founded by Gen
Ziaur Rahman, an army leader who came to power after a coup but was also assassinated
The BNP is still officially led by his widow, former prime minister Khaleda Zia, who is in ailing health and remains under house
arrest.Meenakshi Ganguly, from Human Rights Watch, said on Sunday that the government had failed to reassure opposition supporters that the
This article first appeared/also appeared in theguardian.com
