Bangladesh counts votes in low-turnout election boycotted by opposition
Al Jazeera
Initial signs suggest a low turnout in controversial poll guaranteed to give a fourth straight term to PM Sheikh Hasina.
Bangladesh election officials are counting votes after a controversial poll, fraught with violence and boycotted by the opposition, is guaranteed to give a fourth straight term to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Bangladeshis largely stayed away from the vote on Sunday as initial signs suggested a low turnout, despite widespread reports of carrot-and-stick inducements aimed at bolstering the poll’s legitimacy.
“Vote counting has begun,” said election commission spokesman Shariful Alam. Results are expected as early as Monday morning.
Turnout was 27.15 percent at 3pm (09:00 GMT), an hour before polls closed, the election commission said, compared with an overall turnout of more than 80 percent in the last election in 2018.
Voting was cancelled at three centres due to irregularities, said Jahangir Alam, secretary of the commission.
