Bangladesh Election LIVE: Sheikh Hasina wins for the fifth time

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday secured a record fourth straight term as her Awami League party won two-thirds of the seats in the general elections marred by sporadic violence and a boycott by the main opposition BNP and its allies.

Hasina’s party won 200 seats in the 300-seat parliament while counting is still underway after the end of the day-long voting on Sunday.

Bangladesh Election LIVE: Bangladesh Prime Minister and leader of the Awami League, Sheikh Hasina, secured her re-election to parliament from the Gopalganj-3 constituency following a sweeping triumph in the general elections. The electoral process was overshadowed by intermittent violence and the absence of the primary opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Bangladesh Election LIVE: Bangladeshi election authorities began tallying votes on Sunday following polls that are expected to secure a fifth consecutive term for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The elections concluded amidst a boycott orchestrated by an opposition party, which Hasina labelled a “terrorist organisation.”

Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Sunday, claimed that the opposition BNP didn't participate in the elections due to fear of defeat, reported news agency PTI.

“The BNP has taken a strategy of boycotting the election with various excuses, various demands. They participated in the 2018 election and got some parliamentary seats, but this year they did not participate knowing they would be defeated,” Khan, a senior leader of tej ruling Awami League, was quoted as saying by the Dhaka Tribune newspaper.

Bangladesh deployed nearly 800,000 security forces to guard polling booths. Troops were mobilised across the nation to assist in maintaining law and order during the polls. Notably, Bangladesh's main opposition party boycotted the polls. Experts opine that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to get a fourth straight term.

In the last election in 2018, overall voter turnout was more than 80%. However, in the ongoing election, overall voter turnout was just 27.15% at 3 p.m. (0900), an hour before polls closed, Bangladesh Election Commission revealed, as reported by news agency Reuters. The elections have been boycotted by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allied groups.

Counting of votes is underway in Bangladesh after the elections on Sunday, reported news agency AFP. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is vying for a fifth term in office.

"Vote counting has begun," election commission spokesman Shariful Alam told AFP.

According to Bangladesh Election Commission, turnout was only 27.15% one hour before the voting closed, reported news agency AP. The elections were boycotted by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allied groups.

Bangladeshis largely stayed away from the polls in a general election on Sunday set to give Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina a fourth straight term, after a vote boycotted by the main opposition party and marred by violence.

Rights groups have warned of virtual one-party rule by Hasina's Awami League in the South Asian country of 170 million people after the boycott by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and some smaller allies.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, whose ranks have been decimated by mass arrests, has called a general strike and urged the public not to participate in what it calls a "sham" election.

But Hasina, 76, called for citizens to cast their ballots and show their faith in the democratic process.

"The BNP is a terrorist organisation," she told reporters after casting her vote.

One of Bangladesh's key newspapers critical of the government said Sunday its website had been blocked, as the country votes in a general election boycotted by the opposition.

Sajid Hoque, news editor at the Daily Manab Zamin, said the paper had been "flooded with calls and messages" from readers who said "that they cannot access our website".

The newspaper's printed edition was still available on the streets.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is guaranteed to win a fifth term after a boycott led by an opposition party she has branded a "terrorist organisation".

Voters in Bangladesh cast their ballots Sunday as polls opened in a parliamentary election fraught with violence and a boycott from the main opposition party, paving the way for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League to seize a fourth consecutive term.

Authorities said at least 18 arson attacks were reported across the country since late Friday, with 10 of them targeting polling places. Four people died Friday in an arson attack on a passenger train heading toward the capital, Dhaka. The incidents have intensified tensions ahead of the parliamentary elections that the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allied groups said they would shun.

Bangladeshis on Sunday turned up in low numbers to cast their votes for the general elections likely to be won by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for a fourth straight term, amid pre-poll violence and a boycott by the main opposition party BNP and its allies.

The first four hours of voting in the 12th parliamentary election saw a voter turnout of 18.50 per cent, Election Commission Secretary Jahangir Alam said.

Bangladesh voters participated in the general elections in large numbers on Sunday, exuding confidence in the incumbent Awami League-led government under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The voters said that there will not be any impact from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as people are not with them, but with the progress that the country has witnessed in the last 15 years.

Notably, around 170 million people in Bangladesh are voting to elect 299 lawmakers during the 12th national election amid a boycott by the main opposition BNP.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took a jibe at the opposition's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which boycotted the general elections being held on Sunday, and called it a “terrorist organisation”, adding she was trying to ensure the nation remained democratic. Read more

Presiding officers at the voting centres visited by Al Jazeera are reporting a notably low voter turnout, below 20 percent.

The BNP has announced a 48-hour nationwide strike that started on Saturday, potentially influencing the turnout.

The shooting took place following a clash between supporters of Awami League-nominated candidate Mohiuddin Bachchu and independent candidate Mohammad Manjur Alam, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

Bangladesh’s main opposition party is boycotting Sunday’s election, saying there is no guarantee of fairness and is demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Hasina, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term.

Police in Bangladesh on Sunday said they had fired shotguns as they clashed with opposition activists who had set up a roadblock to protest voting in ongoing general elections.

Mokhlesur Rahman, a police deputy commissioner in the port city of Chittagong, said officers had "fired shotguns" to disperse up to 60 opposition members who had blocked a road using burning tyres. "No one is injured," Rahman told AFP. "The situation is now under control."

A twelve-small party alliance in support of BNP’s call to boycott the election is protesting in front of the National Press Club in the Bangladesh capital, reported Al Jazeera.

“Stop this farcical election. Give back us our democratic right,” they chanted.

Parties in the alliance include the Jatiya Party (Kazi Zafar), Bangladesh Kalyan Party, Bangladesh Labour Party and the Islami Oikkya Jote party.

Bangladesh police say fired shotguns to break up opposition protest, reported AFP.

Amin Chowdhury, secretary for independent candidate Zafar Alam of the southern district of Cox’s Bazar, has told Al Jazeera that law enforcers and Awami League workers assaulted opposition polling agents and threw them out of most polling centres in the constituency.

“None of our polling agents is allowed to enter those centres,” Chowdhury said, adding that they went to one particular centre where witnesses told them they had seen ballots being stuffed. “We couldn’t even verify whether there was actual ballot stuffing as we were beaten out of that centre.”

“Even in an opposition-less, one-sided election, Awami League is stuffing ballot,” said Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, the joint secretary-general of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), talking to the media on Sunday, reported Al Jazeera

The BNP declared a 48-hour nationwide strike starting Saturday.

Violent clashes broke out between BNP activists and police in Chandgaon area of Chattagram city, formerly known as Chittagong, local media reported.

Pankaj Dutta, a top police official said that a group of BNP workers blocked the roads and tried to create anarchy. “They threw stones at police who retaliated with shotguns,” he said.

Alleged ballot stuffing has led to the suspension of the voting at a polling station in central district of Narsingdi – some 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) away from capital Dhaka, reported Al Jazeera.

A local reporter quoting the district’s returning officer Badiul Alam, told Al Jazeera balloting at the Ibrahimpur Government Primary School centre was halted within half an hour as Alam “found irregularities”.