Bangladesh nationalists celebrate landslide win; Rahman set to become PM

Bangladesh's opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) won a landslide parliamentary election on Friday, returning to power after nearly two decades and positioning ‌party leader Tarique Rahman to become prime minister as the country emerges from months of unrest and economic disruption.

Election Commission figures said the BNP alliance had won 212 seats, compared with 77 for the Islamist-led Jamaat-e-Islami alliance — which said Friday there had been "massive irregularities in vote counting" and demanded "redress." It was unclear immediately what action Jamaat would take.

The BNP, which returns to power after 20 years, thanked the people soon and called ‌for special prayers on Friday for the nation and its people.

BNP chief Rahman told AFP two days before polling he was "confident" that his party — crushed during the autocratic 15-year rule of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina — would regain power in the South Asian nation of 170 million people.

Hasina's Awami League party was barred from taking part.

Supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party show a victory sign in front of a banner with Tarique Rahman’s photo. Reuters

Interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who will step down once the new government takes power, has urged all to stay calm. "We may have differences of opinion, but we must remain united in the greater national interest," he said.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and the US ambassador to Bangladesh, Brent T. Christensen, were among the first to congratulate Rahman on his party's victory.

But Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman, 67, who had mounted a disciplined grassroots campaign on a platform of justice and ending corruption, told reporters angrily on Friday that his party would "seek redress from the Election Commission."

His party had earlier claimed there were "repeated inconsistencies and fabrications" in the result announcement process.

"Our youths will not spare anybody who attempts to compromise the sacrifices made in July," he said, referring to the 2024 uprising against Hasina.

The Election Commission said turnout was 59 per cent across 299 constituencies out of 300 in which voting took place.

Another 50 seats in parliament reserved for women will be named from party lists.

Political clashes killed five people and injured more than 600 during campaigning, police records show.

However, after a turbulent campaign period, the vote passed largely peacefully — and a day after the vote, Bangladesh has seemingly reacted to the result so far with calm. Party workers spent the whole night after voting in front of the BNP offices.

Agencies