Bangladesh on Sunday kicked off its election process which is expected to give Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina her fifth term in office but the opposition parties have boycotted the elections due to their members being arrested in large numbers.
Hasina’s government has been credited with bringing significant economic growth to a country that was once riddled with poverty but has also been accused of human rights violations and of cracking down ruthlessly on opposition parties.
Despite having few competitors, Hasina’s party has avoided fielding candidates in a few seats to ensure that the parliament remains a multi-party institution.
Polling booths will be open until 5pm and the results will be declared after midnight.
However, there have been reports of voters being threatened with confiscation of government benefit cards if they refuse to vote for the ruling Awami League.
“They said since the government feeds us, we have to vote for them,” said an elderly voter from the central district of Faridpur.
Meanwhile, Hasina’s opponents, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), have called for a general strike and have urged the public not to vote, following months of protests last year demanding the prime minister’s resignation ahead of the election.
Hasina said the main party boycotting Sunday’s national elections was a “terrorist organisation”, adding that she was trying to ensure her country remained democratic and urging the public to cast their votes, AFP reported.
“The BNP is a terrorist organisation,” she told waiting reporters after casting her vote moments after polls opened at the Dhaka City College, alongside her sister and daughter.
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“I am trying my best to ensure that democracy should continue in this country,” Hasina said. “The election will be free and fair,” she added.
BNP reported that around 25,000 opposition cadres, including the entire party’s local leadership, were arrested in a crackdown, while the government estimates the number to be around 11,000.
Protests continued before the election, including a few hundred opposition supporters marching in central Dhaka.
The election commission said around 175,000 police officers and more than 515,000 members of the Ansar reserve force had been deployed to keep order during the vote.
