In pics: Bangladesh PM Hasina wins third straight term despite vote-rigging claims

 | Updated: Dec 31, 2018, 02:40 PM IST

Sheikh Hasina wins for the third time, solidifying her ten year presence in Bangladesh by taking a big lead over BNP and other opposition parties.

 

Sheikh Hasina wins big for the third time

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's alliance won Bangladesh's election with a thumping majority, the country's Election Commission said on Monday, giving her a third straight term following a vote that the opposition rejected as rigged.

The win consolidated Hasina's decade-long rule over Bangladesh, where she is credited with improving the economy and promoting development.

(Photograph:Reuters)

287/298 for Awami League alliance

The alliance dominated by Hasina's Awami League, seen as close to regional power India, won 288 of the 298 seats for which results have been declared, the commission said. There are 300 constituencies in the country.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which boycotted the last poll in 2014, won just six seats.

(Photograph:Reuters)

Violent voting attacked by opposition

At least 17 people were killed as the vote took place, police said, after a violent campaign during which the opposition alleged the government denied it a level playing field.

Candidates reported witnessing ballot-stuffing and vote-rigging by ruling party activists, who also barred opposition polling agents from voting centres, Opposition leader Kamal Hossain said.

(Photograph:Reuters)

Hasina denies vote-rigging allegations

Hasina has been accused of rampant human rights abuses, a crackdown on the media and suppressing dissent. She denies such charges. 

The Election Commission said it was investigating allegations of vote rigging from across the Muslim-majority country of 165 million people. 

A spokesman declined to say if those probes would affect the election result.

(Photograph:Reuters)
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War of battling begums ends

This was the first election in which the BNP campaigned without its leader Khaleda Zia – Hasina's arch-rival. 

The two women have alternated in power for most of the past three decades but Khaleda has been in jail since February on corruption charges she says are politically motivated.

(Photograph:Reuters)

Fresh polls for voting violently

Election Commission 

(Photograph:Reuters)