Bangladesh votes in landmark polls after lethal 2024 rebellion

[ad_1] Bangladeshis voted Thursday in its first election since a lethal 2024 rebellion, as events crushed beneath Sheikh Hasina's rule return to the fray with a robust political inheritor dealing with an Islamist led coalition.

Queues stretched outdoors polling stations within the capital Dhaka as voting within the vastly anticipated election opened within the South Asian nation of 170 million individuals.

Greater than 300,000 troopers and police are deployed countrywide, with UN consultants warning forward of voting of "rising intolerance, threats and assaults", and a "tsunami of disinformation", particularly concentrating on tens of millions of younger first time voters.

"I voted in 1991 and right now after a few years, I forged my vote right here," mentioned Nur Alam Shamim, 50, who was first vote on the New Mannequin Diploma School in Dhaka-10 constituency.

Shithi Goswami, 21, a pupil at Dhaka Metropolis School, lined up early to vote to keep away from the crowds.

"This was my first vote and I hope after every thing we went by the previous couple of years, now's the time for one thing constructive," she mentioned.

Main prime ministerial hopeful Tarique Rahman, 60, is assured his Bangladesh Nationalist Social gathering (BNP) can regain energy -- however he faces a stiff problem from the Muslim-majority nation's largest Islamist occasion, Jamaat e Islami.

Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman, 67, has mounted a disciplined grassroots marketing campaign, and, if victorious, the previous political prisoner may lead the primary Islamist led authorities in constitutionally secular Bangladesh.

Opinion polls differ broadly, although most give the BNP the lead -- with some suggesting a knife?edge race.

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Ban © agences 'Decide the long run' "The importance of this present day is far-reaching," interim chief Muhammad Yunus, who will step down as soon as the brand new authorities takes energy, mentioned in his tackle to the nation earlier than the vote.

"It is going to decide the long run route of the nation, the character of its democracy, its sturdiness, and the destiny of the subsequent era."

The 85 12 months previous Nobel Peace Prize winner has led the South Asian nation since Sheikh Hasina's 15?12 months rule ended together with her ouster in August 2024. His administration has barred her Awami League from contesting the polls.

Hasina, 78, was sentenced to dying in absentia for crimes towards humanity for the bloody crackdown on protesters throughout her last months in energy, and stays in hiding in neighbouring India.

Yunus has additionally championed a sweeping democratic reform constitution to overtake what he known as a "fully damaged" system of presidency and to forestall a return to 1?occasion rule.

The 127 million voters can even determine in a referendum whether or not to endorse proposals for prime?ministerial time period limits, a brand new higher home of parliament, stronger presidential powers and higher judicial independence.

Voters will elect 300 lawmakers instantly, with an extra 50 ladies chosen from occasion lists.

Counting by hand begins after they shut at 4:30 pm (1030 GMT). Ends in previous elections trickled in hours later -- although counting this time additionally consists of referendum ballots.

"The essential take a look at for Bangladesh now might be to make sure the election is performed pretty and impartially, and for all events to then settle for the consequence," mentioned Thomas Kean, an analyst with the Worldwide Disaster Group.

Police information present that 5 individuals have been killed and greater than 600 injured in political clashes throughout campaigning.

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© France 24 'Simply and inclusive' The following authorities will inherit a battered economic system on this planet's second?largest garment exporter, alongside delicate relations with neighbouring India.

The BNP's Rahman -- whose late mother and father each led the nation -- advised AFP that his first precedence, if elected, can be restoring safety and stability. However he warned the challenges forward have been immense.

"The economic system has been destroyed," he mentioned. "There are an enormous variety of unemployed. We have to create companies for these younger individuals to have jobs."

However his Islamist political rivals, who've campaigned on a platform of justice and ending corruption, sense their largest alternative in many years.

"We need to construct a rustic of unity with everybody on board," Jamaat chief Rahman mentioned in his closing marketing campaign speech. "Will probably be a rustic the place no one will get the driving seat due to their household background."

Round 10 % of Bangladesh's inhabitants are non-Muslim, most of them Hindu.

In his last tackle to the nation earlier than voting, Yunus urged residents to honour the "sacrifice" of the 2024 rebellion and to place the "nationwide curiosity above private and occasion" agendas.

"Victory is a part of democracy; defeat can be an inevitable half," he mentioned. "Please dedicate yourselves to constructing a brand new, simply, and inclusive Bangladesh."