Bangladesh PM Hasina wins reelection

A man reads a newspaper the morning after the Awami League won the general election in Dhaka on Monday. MOHAMMAD PONIR HOSSAIN/REUTERS

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina won reelection for the fourth straight term as her ruling party Awami League, or AL, gained more than 70 percent of the 299 parliamentary seats available, according to the Bangladesh Election Commission.

Voting for Bangladesh's 12th National Assembly elections was completed peacefully on Sunday, with the exception of a few isolated incidents of violence. Counting of ballots began soon after voting ended that afternoon.

In Bangladesh, a party can only form the government if it manages to clinch 151 seats.

The AL, which rose to power in a landslide election victory in 2009, now eyes a fourth straight five-year term in parliament.

India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma conveyed congratulations to Hasina on her election victory during a phone call, on behalf of the Indian government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Asian News International reported.

The Bangladesh Election Commission said over 119.6 million registered voters were eligible to cast their votes at more than 42,000 polling stations across the country.

About 2,000 candidates contested in 299 of the 300 parliamentary constituencies. The election for the remaining constituency was postponed due to the death of a candidate.

Despite a boycott call by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP, the AL's main political opponent, voter turnout was 40 percent, Bangladesh Election Commissioner Anisur Rahman said.

On election day, foreign election observers openly visited polling centers. Afterward, some of the foreign observers described the polls as free, fair, successful and legitimate.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said the BNP did not take part in the parliamentary elections because it knew that it would lose.

Abdur Rahim, who runs an export business in the capital Dhaka, told China Daily that Hasina's new term in office will keep Bangladesh's growth momentum going.

"I hope there will be a renewed vigor in the economy of Bangladesh," he said.

"Yes, we have several problems, but what makes Hasina an undisputed leader is her vision and ability to lead our country to a new dawn of progress and development.

"Under Hasina, Bangladesh, which was reeling under abject poverty a few years ago, has witnessed extraordinary growth."

Some analysts say Bangladesh has also shown improvement in areas such as education, health, climate disaster management, and women's participation in the labor force.

"Relations between China and Bangladesh have fl ourished over the years under Hasina," Rahim said.

"Many ambitious infrastructure projects, including the Padma Rail Link, Dhaka Metro, and Karnaphuli Underwater Tunnel have been supported by the governments of Bangladesh and China," Marco Foerster, FDI adviser at Dezan Shira &Associates, said.

Arunava Das is a freelance journalist for China Daily.