General election in Bangladesh 2018

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The parliamentary elections in Bangladesh in 2018 took place on December 30, 2018. The Jatiya Sangsad , the unicameral parliament of Bangladesh, was elected . The ruling Awami League under Prime Minister Hasina Wajed emerged as the election winner .

prehistory

Hasina Wajed (Sheikh Hasina), incumbent Prime Minister and Awami League chairwoman
Khaleda Zia, ex-prime minister, BNP leader and sentenced to prison

The previous parliamentary election in Bangladesh took place on January 5, 2014. In the run-up to this election, there had been disputes between the Awami League government and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The disputes essentially revolved around whether a neutral trustee government should be set up before the election to ensure a democratic election and to prevent government manipulation. The BNP demanded this and the government refused. Ultimately, the dispute led the BNP and its allies to declare a complete boycott of the election. Accordingly, the parliament newly elected in 2014 consisted almost exclusively of Awami party members and there was no significant opposition in parliament. The BNP therefore continued its opposition outside of parliament and the following legislative period was marked by protest and strike actions by the opposition, which tried to force new elections. The dispute between the government and the opposition often took on the character of a personal feud between the Awami party leader and Prime Minister Hasina Wajed and the BNP party leader and ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia , as has often happened in the past .

A high point in this " Begums dispute " was the arrest of Khaleda Zia on January 2, 2018. Zia was accused of being jointly responsible for a 2015 bus bomb attack. The attack, which occurred as part of a nationwide transport strike called by the BNP, claimed eight lives. Zia was also charged with being involved in another bomb attack that occurred during the 2005 election campaign and was allegedly planned by Zia's son, Tarique Rahman , who had been in exile in London since 2007/08 . At that time, at least 10 explosive devices exploded in an election campaign run by Hasina Wajed, killing 24. Wajed suffered permanent hearing loss. Other charges included corruption and misappropriation or misappropriation of state resources. On February 8, 2018, Zia was sentenced to five years in prison for “corruption”. She was found guilty of embezzling US $ 250,000 from an aid fund in 2006 during her tenure as Prime Minister. Several of her family members were sentenced to long prison terms. Immediately after the verdict was pronounced, there were violent mass protests by their supporters. Zia herself described the verdict as politically motivated and announced her political comeback . The BNP declared that it would not participate in the upcoming elections without its party leader. On March 12, 2018, Khaleda Zia was released from custody pending the end of the appeal process. However, the prison sentence of over two years made it impossible for her to run for political office.

As the legislature neared its end, the events of before the last election seemed to repeat themselves. The BNP and its allies called for the establishment of a non-party transitional government to ensure the orderly and fair process of the election. This was rejected by the government. On November 8, 2018, the director of the Bangladesh Election Commission announced December 23, 2018 as the election date, without the dispute over the electoral modalities having been resolved. After protests by the opposition, who wanted a date in January 2019, the election date was postponed four days later to December 30, 2018.

Electoral system

The Parliament of Bangladesh has 350 members. 300 MPs are elected according to the simple majority vote in as many one-person constituencies . 50 more seats are reserved for women, who are elected by the elected members according to the voting share of the parties.

Political issues

As outlined above, Bangladeshi politics is strongly determined by personal rivalries. One of the concrete political problems in Bangladesh was the crisis caused by the flight of around 700,000 Rohingyas from neighboring Myanmar to Bangladesh since August 2017 . Another problem of the previous legislative period was Islamist acts of violence , some of which were directed against well-known secularist publicists and bloggers in social networks and some against religious minorities (Hindus, Christians, Buddhists). The high point was the hostage-taking in Dhaka on July 1, 2016 , which attracted worldwide attention and ended with the deaths of 20 hostages. In contrast, the economic development of Bangladesh in recent years has been relatively good with economic growth rates of 6 to 8 percent annually. A chronic problem in Bangladesh and a significant obstacle to growth is endemic corruption on almost all levels, including state institutions.

Electoral alliances

Before the election, 39 political parties were officially registered and could therefore put forward their own candidates. The current relative majority voting system favors large parties, but small parties with a pronounced regional focus can also benefit from it. In addition, small parties can tip the scales when there is a tight majority in a constituency. In the past, therefore, various electoral alliances with mutual constituency agreements were regularly formed. That was also the case this time.

Great alliance

The Awami League had contested the last election in the alliance of the "14-party alliance". This alliance was expanded into a Grand Alliance ( Bengali মহাজোট , 'Grand alliance') in November 2018, comprising several dozen parties (including many unregistered). The most important of these parties was the Jatiya Party , which had formed the parliamentary opposition in the previous legislature. Other parties were Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and the Workers Party of Bangladesh . The negotiations between the Awami League and the Jatiya Party turned out to be particularly lengthy. The latter initially made very high demands on the constituencies to be reserved for them. On December 10, 2018, spokesmen for the Jatiya Party announced that the party wanted to set up 29 candidates outside of the Alliance in addition to 29 candidates within the framework of the Grand Alliance.

On September 15, 2018, the Islamic-Democratic Alliance was formed , an alliance of 15 Islamic and Islamist small parties. Notwithstanding the significant ideological differences that existed, this alliance joined the Awami-led Grand Alliance .

Oikyafront and 20 party alliance

On October 13, 2018, several political groups led by the BNP announced the formation of the Jatiya Oikya Front ( Bengali জাতীয় ঐক্য ফ্রন্ট ). In addition to the BNP, the alliance also included various smaller parties.

Political analysts have expressed some astonishment at the fact that the traditionally secularist Awami League was in alliance with conservative Islamic parties, while the moderate Islamic BNP formed an alliance with the secular Oikya front. With regard to the BNP, purely electoral considerations were suspected, while on the other hand it was pointed out that the Awami League government had slowly moved closer to the ideas and demands of Islamic groups over the past few years. However, the Awami League only agreed to support two candidates from the Bangladesh Tariqat Federation , instead of the seven or eight required by the Islamic Party Alliance.

On November 11, 2018, representatives of the "20-Party Alliance", the traditional electoral alliance of the BNP, declared that they wanted to take part in the upcoming election. Four days later, however, spokesmen for the alliance criticized the supposedly unfair conditions of the upcoming election and announced that they would reconsider participation in the election if the circumstances did not change. On December 9, 2018, an electoral agreement was signed between the BNP and its allies after the BNP wanted to hand over 19 constituencies to the respective candidates from the Oikya Front and 39 constituencies to the candidates of the 20-party alliance (24 of them for Jamaat-e-Islami ).

Left Democratic Alliance

The Left Democratic Alliance (LDA) was formed from eight parties from the politically left spectrum. The leading party was the Bangladesh Communist Party. The LDA nominated candidates in 131 of the 300 constituencies.

Election and election result

Constituency results

A total of 1861 candidates stood for election. 1733 had been nominated by the 39 registered political parties and the remaining 128 were non-party candidates. The number of eligible voters was 104,190,480 and the turnout was 69%. The election in the constituency of Gaibandha-3 (31) was postponed to January 27, 2019 after the Oikyafront candidate there died on December 20, 2018. The count at three polling stations in the Brahmanbaria-2 constituency (244) was postponed to January 9, 2019 due to local riots.

There were numerous violent clashes on election day that left at least 17 people dead.

Preliminary results of the election in 299 constituencies on December 30, 2018
Political party be right electoral
circles 		Percent
votes 		Party alliance
Awami League 53.192.149 258 75.07% Great alliance
Bangladesh Nationalist Party 8,655,135 6th 12.21% Oikyafront
Jatiya party 3,487,050 21st 4.92% Great alliance
Islami Andolan Bangladesh 919.685 0 1.30% other
Workers Party of Bangladesh 644.072 3 0.91% Great alliance
Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal 699.432 2 0.99% Great alliance
Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh 564,549 2 0.80% Great alliance
Gano forum 430,793 2 0.61% Oikyafront
Bangladesh Tariqat Federation 243,559 1 0.34% Great alliance
Krishak Sramik Janata League 143,784 0 0.20% Oikyafront
Khelafat Majlish 108,539 0 0.15% 20 party alliance
Zaker Party 82,310 0 0.12% Great alliance
Bangladesh Islami Front 59,536 0 0.08% other
Jamiat e Ulama e Islam Bangladesh 53,308 0 0.08% 20 party alliance
Liberal Democratic Party 50,343 0 0.07% 20 party alliance
Bangladesh Kalyan Party 44,436 0 0.06% 20 party alliance
Communist Party of Bangladesh 39,350 0 0.06% Left Democratic Alliance
Bangladesh Jatiya Party - BJP 38,750 0 0.05% 20 party alliance
Islamic Front Bangladesh 26,991 0 0.04% Great alliance
National People's Party 24,038 0 0.03% 20 party alliance
Socialist Party of Bangladesh 14,968 0 0.02% Left Democratic Alliance
Bangladesh Muslim League 12,551 0 0.02% Great alliance
Bangladesh Nationalist Front 12,469 0 0.02% Great alliance
Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh 12,355 0 0.02% Left Democratic Alliance
National Awami Party Bangladesh 8,291 0 0.01% Great alliance
Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan 7,623 0 0.01% Great alliance
Islami Oikya Jote 6.135 0 0.01% Great alliance
Progressive Democratic Party 4,186 0 0.01% other
Gonofront 4,007 0 0.01% other
Jatiya Ganatantrik Party 3,798 0 0.01% 20 party alliance
Bangladesh Jatiya Party 3,738 0 0.01% Great alliance
Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish 2.118 0 0.00% -
Jatiya Party-JP 1,174 1 0.00% Great alliance
Bangladesh Singing Criticism Mukti Jote 1.005 0 0.00% other
Ganatantri party 952 0 0.00% Great alliance
Sammobadi Dal 387 0 0.00% Great alliance
Independent 1,255,323 3 1.77% other
total 70,858,889 299 100.00% -

By-elections

On January 9, 2018, the election was rescheduled in three polling stations in the Brahmanbaria-2 constituency (244). The BNP candidate won the constituency. The postponed election in the constituency of Gaibandha-3 (31) was won by the candidate of the Awami League. Three candidates, including the BNP candidate, had previously withdrawn their candidacy on January 10, 2019 on allegations of election fraud.

Election of female MPs

According to the constitution, in addition to the 300 directly elected MPs, 50 other female MPs should be elected according to the proportional share of the parties. 49 women were elected on February 17, 2019. Of these, 43 seats went to the Awami League, 4 to the Jatiya Party, 1 to the Worker's Party and one to an Independent. A seat that would have been granted to the BNP remained vacant for the time being, as it was not yet clear at this point whether the 6 elected BNP members would take their seats in parliament. After this happened (see below), the BNP group of representatives elected Barrister Rumeen Farhana on May 20, 2019 .

Allegations of election fraud and criticism of the circumstances of the election

In many ways, the course of the election did not meet the criteria of a completely free and transparent election.

Western reporters reported a climate of intimidation around the election. Supporters of the government have spoken out frankly, while opposition supporters often only wanted to disclose their opinions and reports on suspected irregularities anonymously. At least 28 opposition candidates withdrew before the end of election day, alleging election fraud and intimidation. Voters reported that their ballot papers were filled out and thrown in the ballot box before they could vote. Shortly before the polling stations in Chittagong opened, an employee of the British BBC saw ballot boxes which appeared to be filled with ballot papers. On December 31, 2018, a woman was gang rape by Awami League activists after she voted for the opposition, which sparked significant media coverage in Bangladesh.

Reactions and judgments from abroad

In a critical comment in the Washington Post the day after the election, the election result was deplored as "bad for democracy" in Bangladesh. An election victory of 96 percent is more typical for regimes like the one in North Korea than for a democratic state. The result is symptomatic of the increasingly authoritarian leadership style of Prime Minister Hasina Wajed. Such poor elections deprive the prime minister or the ruling party of its own democratic legitimacy. After the election victory, numerous heads of state and government congratulated Hasina Wajed on her election victory. In addition to India's Narendra Modi, there were above all states that are not known for the particularly high appreciation of human and freedom rights (Russia, People's Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, United Arab Emirates and Pakistan) - so another comment the Washington Post . The European Union and the United States have declared their willingness to cooperate with the new Bangladeshi government.

Temporary boycott of parliament by the opposition

On January 3, 2019, a BNP delegation presented the Bangladesh Electoral Commission with a memorandum in which the Oikya Front called for the election results to be annulled and for new elections to be held under the direction of a neutral trustee government. Evidence of alleged electoral fraud was also presented. LDA supporters also called for the election to be repeated on January 3, 2019.

The elected MPs of the BNP-led Oikya Front declared that they would not take their seats in the new parliament and would not take the MP's oath. This united front was broken on March 4, 2019 when the two Ganoforum MPs declared that they wanted to take the oath. Ultimately, however, only the MP Sultan (or Suntan) Masur took the MP's oath, who was promptly expelled from his party for violating party discipline. On April 2, 2019, the other elected Ganoforum MP, Mukabbir Khan, also took the oath.

On April 25, 2019, the elected BNP MP Zahidur Rahman broke his party's boycott by taking the MP's oath. He was then expelled from the BNP. However, on April 30, 2019, the remaining five BNP MPs followed him and were sworn in with the approval of their party leadership. This ended the parliamentary boycott by the opposition.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Official: ruling party wins election in Bangladesh. Deutsche Welle, December 31, 2018, accessed on January 6, 2019 .
  2. ^ Justin Rowlatt: Bangladesh grows tired of the Battling Begums. February 11, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Thomas Kohlmann: War of the ladies in Bangladesh. Deutsche Welle, December 15, 2015, accessed on January 6, 2019 .
  4. ^ Bangladesh court orders arrest of Khalida Zia for arson attack. The Economic Times, January 2, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Khaleda jailed for corruption in Zia Orphanage Trust - As it happened. bdnews24, February 8, 2018, accessed on January 5, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Mohammad Al-Masum Molla: I will be back, Khaleda tells weeping relatives. The Daily Star, February 8, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Hedait Hossain Molla: Nazrul: BNP won't contest national polls without Khaleda Zia. Dhaka Tribune, March 7, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Bangladesh opposition leader temporarily free. Deutsche Welle, March 12, 2018, accessed on January 6, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Shakhawat Liton, Mohiuddin Alamgir: Election on Dec 23. The Daily Star, November 9, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Mohiuddin Alamgir: Polls now on December 30. The Daily Star, November 13, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  11. ^ THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF BANGLADESH. Retrieved February 7, 2016 .
  12. ↑ Myanmar Rohingya: What you need to know about the crisis. BBC News, April 28, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  13. ↑ a b c Bangladesh election: Voting disrupted by violence. BBC News, December 30, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  14. ^ The corruption dynamics in Bangladesh. Dhaka Tribune, May 18, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Bangladesh. Tranparency International, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Positions of 39 registered political parties. bdnews24, November 9, 2018, accessed on January 5, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Shakhawat Liton, Rashidul Hasan: Mega alliance in the making. The Daily Star, November 14, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee, Rashidul Hasan: Seat-Sharing With Jatiya Party: AL suddenly in a fix. The Daily Star, November 25, 2018, accessed February 7, 2016 .
  19. ↑ Moinul Hoque Chowdhury, Joyanta Saha: Jatiya Party to field around 150 candidates outside Awami League alliance. bdnews24, December 10, 2018, accessed on January 5, 2019 .
  20. ^ Islamic Democratic Alliance formed. The Daily Star, September 16, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Shakhawat Liton, Mohammad Al-Masum Molla: New alliance launched. The Daily Star, October 14, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Sonia Sarkar: Bangladesh voter's choice: Secular ruling party canoodling with Islamists or hardliners now in secular alliance. The Telegraph (India), December 30, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Rashidul Hasan: Islamic parties in Alliance: Only Tarikat gets AL's blessing. The Daily Star, December 8, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Nawaz Farhin Antara: BNP-led 20-Party Alliance to participate in the election. Dhaka Tribune, November 11, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Md Nahian: 20-Party Alliance: Will reconsider contesting in election if no level playing field. Dhaka Tribune, November 15, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  26. ↑ Rafiqul Islam Azad: BNP leaves 58 seats for Oikyafront, 20-party alliance. The Independent (Bangladesh), December 9, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  27. ↑ a b Mehedi Al Amine: Left Democratic Alliance demands fresh election. Dhaka Tribune, January 3, 2019, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  28. ↑ Moinul Hoque Chowdhury: Bangladesh general election at a glance: Awami League has 260 candidates, BNP fields 257. bdnews24, December 27, 2018, accessed on January 5, 2019 .
  29. ↑ Gaibandha-3 election to be rescheduled after death of candidate Fazle Rabbi Chowdhury. bdnews24, December 20, 2018, accessed on January 5, 2019 .
  30. ↑ Election to Gaibandha-3 Jan 27. The Daily Star, December 23, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  31. ↑ Re-election to three Brahmanbaria centers on Jan 9. bdnews24, January 2, 2019, accessed on January 5, 2019 .
  32. ↑ General Election 2018. Dhaka Tribune, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  33. ↑ BNP candidate wins Brahmabnaria-2. NewAge Bangladesh, January 10, 2019, accessed January 10, 2019 .
  34. ↑ AL candidate wins by-polls in Gaibandha-3. Dhaka Tribune, January 28, 2019, accessed January 29, 2019 .
  35. ↑ 49 elected uncontested to reserved women parliamentary seats. bdnews24, accessed on February 17, 2019 .
  36. ↑ Rumeen to be elected BNP MP from reserved seat. Dhaka Tribune, May 20, 2019, accessed October 27, 2019 .
  37. ↑ Bangladesh elections: Deadly clashes mar vote. BBC News, December 30, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  38. ↑ Mother of four 'gang-raped by AL men'. The Daily Star, January 1, 2019, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  39. ↑ Joanna Slater, Azad Majumder: Why Bangladesh's landslide election result is bad for its democracy. The Washington Post, December 31, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  40. ↑ Julhas Alam: Global support lets Bangladesh PM withstand election worries. The Washington Post, January 4, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  41. ↑ Jatiya Oikya Front submits memorandum to EC, demands fresh polls. Dhaka Tribune, January 3, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .
  42. ↑ Two Gono Forum MPs-elect to take oath on Mar 7. Dhaka Tribune, March 4, 2019, accessed on March 4, 2019 .
  43. ↑ Gono Forum expels Sultan Mansur. Dhaka Tribune, March 7, 2019, accessed March 8, 2019 .
  44. ↑ Ganaforum's Mukabbir 'takes oath today'. The Independent (Bangladesh), April 2, 2019, accessed October 27, 2019 .
  45. ↑ Ashif Islam Shaon, Nawaz Farhin Antara: BNP joins parliament after all. Dhaka Tribune, April 30, 2019, accessed on October 27, 2019 .
  46. ^ Bangladesh opposition ends parliament boycott. AFPdate = 2019-04-30, accessed October 27, 2019 .
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