BNP chairman Tarique Rahman greets his supporters as leaves his residence in Dhaka. Photo: AFP
DHAKA:
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) celebrated a landslide victory on Friday in the first elections held since a deadly 2024 uprising, with leader Tarique Rahman to become prime minister.
Election Commission figures said the BNP alliance had won 212 seats, compared with 77 for the Islamist-led Jamaat-e-Islami alliance — which said earlier it had “serious questions about the integrity of the results process”.
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.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday extended felicitations to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its leader, Tarique Rahman, on securing a landslide majority in the national elections and receiving the mandate to form the next government.
The president, in a statement, congratulated the people of Bangladesh on the successful conduct of the polls across 299 seats with the participation of over 127 million registered voters.
Reaffirming Pakistan’s support for the sovereignty and democratic aspirations of Bangladesh, the president said that Pakistan looked forward to working with the new government to strengthen cooperation in trade, defence, cultural exchanges and regional forums.
President Zardari said that the elections in Bangladesh marked an opportunity for South Asia to move beyond past phases in which regional cooperation, including within SAARC was held hostage by India which continued to paralyse the great forum that was born in Bangladesh in 1985.
He expressed the hope that the new political environment in Dhaka would contribute to more balanced, independent and mutually respectful engagement across the region.
President Zardari also conveyed his best wishes for the continued stability, progress and prosperity of Bangladesh.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Tarique Rahman, on Friday for his election win.
“I also congratulate the people of Bangladesh on the successful conduct of elections,” the premier wrote on X, adding that he looked forward to working closely with the new leadership.
The US embassy congratulated Rahman and the BNP for a “historic victory”, while neighbouring India praised Rahman’s “decisive win” in a significant step after recent rocky relations with Bangladesh.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). “India will continue to stand in support of a democratic, progressive and inclusive Bangladesh.”
In a separate statement, Modi said he spoke with Rahman over the phone to convey his wishes. “As two close neighbours with deep-rooted historical and cultural ties, I reaffirmed India’s continued commitment to the peace, progress, and prosperity of both our peoples,” the Indian leader said in a post on X.
The vote passed largely peacefully and the country has been reported to have been calm since polling day.
Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman, 67, had mounted a disciplined grassroots campaign on a platform of justice and ending corruption.
His party said it was “not satisfied with the process surrounding the election results”, claiming it had logged “repeated inconsistencies and fabrications in unofficial result announcements”, but without giving further details.
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.
Senior BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi claimed a resounding win, calling for followers to give thanks in prayer rather than celebrate on the streets.
“There will be no victory rally despite the BNP’s sweeping victory,” Rizvi said in a statement.
