General elections were held in Bangladesh on 30 December 2018 to elect 300 directly elected members of the Jatiya Sangsad. The result was another landslide victory for the Awami League-led Grand Alliance led by Sheikh Hasina. The elections were marred by violence, and were widely considered by opposition politicians and the international community to be rigged.
According to political scientist Ali Riaz, the elections were not free and fair. BBC News, among others, observed some apparent vote rigging by the Awami League, with some referring to it as the 'midnight election' due to ballot boxes allegedly being filled the night before election day. Opposition leader Kamal Hossain rejected the results, calling it "farcical" and demanding fresh elections to be held under a neutral government. The Bangladesh Election Commission said it would investigate reported vote-rigging allegations from "across the country", but never did. The Awami League called it "one of the best elections held ever." The election saw the use of electronic voting machines for the first time.
Background
The previous general elections in January 2014 were boycotted by the main opposition alliance, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and former prime minister Khaleda Zia. As a result, the Awami League, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, won a landslide victory, taking 234 of the 300 seats in an election that saw 153 seats uncontested.
In July 2017, the BNP stated that it was ready to contest the next general elections if parliament was dissolved and the election commission consisted of non-partisan members. On 14 September 2017, the chief election commissioner confirmed that the BNP would contest the elections.BNP will join national polls: CEC Prothom Alo, 14 September 2017 However, following the conviction of BNP chair Khaleda Zia for corruption, the High Court of Bangladesh ruled that Zia was ineligible to run for office. As such, her role is unclear in any potential government which contained the BNP.
Electoral system The 350 members of the Jatiya Sangsad consist of 300 directly elected seats using first-past-the-post voting in single-member constituencies,Electoral system IPU and an additional 50 seats reserved for women. The reserved seats are distributed based on the vote share of the contesting parties, and filled with women selected by the elected members via the single transferable vote.Nizam Ahmed and Sadik Hasan Alangkar or Ahangkar? Reserved-Seat Women Members in the Bangladesh Parliament Each parliament sits for a five-year term.
Approximately 100 million voters were expected to vote from 40,199 polling stations across the country. Electronic voting machines were used in six constituencies.
Criticism The electoral system has been criticised as disproportionalKatherine L. Ekstrand, No Matter Who Draws the Lines: A Comparative Analysis of the Utility of Independent Redistricting Commissions in First-Past-the-Post Democracies, 45 GJICL (2016). and a key driver of political deadlock in the country.
Schedule Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda initially announced 23 December 2018 as the date of the general election. According to the schedule, the last date for filing candidate nomination papers was 19 November, and the last date for withdrawal of candidates was 29 November.
After public hue and cry, the commission rescheduled the election date to 30 December 2018, with 9 December as the last date for withdrawal of candidates on 12 November.
Campaign In November 2018, the Jatiya Party (Ershad) announced that it would join the Awami League-led alliance. On 28 December, Ershad announced Jatiya Party candidates contesting from "open seats" would support the ruling Awami League-led grand alliance candidates and extended his support to "my [his] 'sister' Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina". Ershad personally withdrew from contesting the Dhaka-17 seat in favour of the Awami League candidate. Ershad said, however, that "strong candidates" of his party would stay in the race.
On 13 October 2018, the Jatiya Oikya Front (National Unity Front) was formed, consisting primarily of the Gano Forum, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Rab), and Nagorik Oikya,Bangladesh opposition parties including BNP to contest election Channel NewsAsia, 11 November 2018 led by former foreign minister Kamal Hossain of the Gano Forum. On 18 December, the alliance announced a 14-point manifesto, which included a pledge to reduce the power of the office of Prime Minister.
There was controversy in the run-up to the elections surrounding the nomination of banned Jamaati candidates under the BNP banner. In 2013, the hard-line, right-wing, Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami was banned from registering and therefore contesting in elections by the High Court, citing their charter violates the constitution. Twenty-five Jamaati candidates ran in the election, with twenty-two nominations for BNP and three running as independents. An investigation was launched, but on 23 December, the Election Commission Secretary, Helaluddin Ahmed, said they had examined the related law and "there is no scope for rejecting the Jamaat leaders' candidacy at this moment." On 26 December, just days before the election, Jatiya Oikya Front leader Kamal Hossain expressed his regret about Jamaat's involvement in the elections under his alliance, claiming, "had I known [that Jamaat leaders will be given BNP tickets] I would not have been part of it." The media, however, had reported involvement at the end of November.
Khaleda Zia filed nomination papers for the Bogra-6, Bogra-7 and Feni-1 constituencies. All three sets of nomination papers were rejected by the Election Commission as a result of her convictions in two corruption cases. The Constitution states anyone sentenced to more than 2 years imprisonment for a criminal offence must allow 5 years to lapse before being permitted to contest a parliamentary constituency. The Supreme Court upheld an order issued by the High Court to that effect, ending any possibility of Zia contesting a constituency.
In accordance with election commission rules, campaigning was halted at 08:00 AM on the morning of 28 December.
Parties and alliances
+Seat share by parties of the Grand AllianceNo.PartyFlag/LogoSymbolLeading Candidate(s)Bloc(s)Total seats contestedSeats contested under the alliance1.Bangladesh Awami LeagueSheikh HasinaGA/14-PA 2612602.Jatiya Party-JaPa (Ershad)Hussain Muhammad ErshadGA 176263.Workers Party of BangladeshRashed Khan Menon14-PA 854.Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JaSaD (Inu)Hasanul Haque Inu14-PA 1235.Bikalpa Dhara BangladeshAbdul Mannan, Mahi B. ChowdhuryGA 2536.Bangladesh Tarikat FederationSyed Najibul Bashar Maizbhandari14-PA 1717.Jatiya Party-JP (Manju)Anwar Hossain ManjuGA 1118.Bangladesh Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Ambia)Mayeen Uddin Khan Badal14-PA 11Total299
+Seat share by parties of the Jatiya Oikya FrontNo.PartyFlag/LogoSymbolLeading Candidate(s)Bloc(s)Total seats contestedSeats contested under the alliance1.Bangladesh Nationalist PartyMirza Fakhrul Islam AlamgirJOF/20-PA 2482482.Bangladesh Jamaat-e-IslamiShafiqur Rahman20-PA 24223.Gano ForumMostafa Mohsin MontuJOF 2774.Liberal Democratic PartyOli Ahmad20-PA 855.Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD (Rab)A. S. M. Abdur RabJOF 1946.Krishak Sramik Janata LeagueJOF 947.Nagorik OikyaMahmudur Rahman MannaJOF 448.Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh20-PA 839.Khelafat Majlish20-PA 12211.Bangladesh Kalyan PartySyed Muhammad Ibrahim20-PA 2112.Bangladesh Jatiya PartyAndaleeve Rahman Partho20-PA 3113.National People's PartyFariduzaman Farhad20-PA 79115.Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh (Wakkas)Muhammad Wakkas20-PA 1110.Jatiya Party (Zafar)Ahsan Habib Linkon20-PA 1114.People's Party of BangladeshRita Rahman20-PA 1116.Bangladesh Labour PartyMustafizur Rahman Iran20-PA 11Total283
+Seat share by parties of the Left Democratic AllianceNo.PartyFlag/LogoSymbolSeats contested1.Communist Party of Bangladesh742.Socialist Party of Bangladesh443.Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh154.Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist)105.Ganosanhati Andolan36.Democratic Revolutionary Party26.United Communist League of Bangladesh18.Socialist Movement of Bangladesh1Total130
Others +Seats contested by partiesNo.PartyFlag/LogoSymbolLeading Candidate(s)Bloc(s)Total seats contestedSeats contested under alliance1.Islami Andolan Bangladesh2972.Zaker Party903.Bangladesh Nationalist Front574.Bangladesh Muslim League455.Bangladesh Islami Front256.Islami Oikya Jote247.Bangladesh Khilafat Andolan238.Islamic Front Bangladesh189.Progressive Democratic Party-PDP1410.Gano Front1311.Bangladesh Jatiya Party1112.Bangladesh National Awami Party (Muzaffar)913.Ganatantri Party614.Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish515.Jatiya Ganotantrik Party (JaGPa)416.Bangladesh National Awami Party-Bangladesh NAPJebel Rahman GhaaniUF/GA317.Communist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist–Leninist) (Barua)218.Bangladesh Sanskritik Muktijote (Muktijote)219.Bangladesh Muslim League-BML1
Conduct Violence
Between 9 and 12 December 2018, 47 incidents of violence were reported, in which eight people were killed and 560 were injured.
According to the BNP Office, as of 26 December 2018, at least 12,923 people (mostly BNP, Jatiya Oikya Front, and 18 Party Alliance activists) had been injured in 2,833 attacks on opposition candidates. Between 8 November and 25 December, at least 1,574 cases were filed against BNP officials in different districts. During the same period, 15,568 activists were arrested. According to The Daily Star, at least 56 candidates, mostly from the BNP, were attacked, with around 1,190 people injured and over 800 BNP-Jamaat officials arrested between 10 and 28 December.
On 29 December, the day before the elections, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission suspended 3G and 4G connections across the country until after the elections.
The newspaper The Daily Star wrote on 17 December 2018 that in violence before Bangladesh elections, some opposition candidates were attacked, 13 of them were injured, and two were arrested. On election day, at least 17 people were killed in clashes between ruling party supporters and the opposition.
Reports say that many supporters of the opposition parties were arrested just before the Bangladesh elections on 30 December 2018. The violence that erupted before the election day left at least 17 people dead.
On 3 January 2019, Human Rights Watch called for an investigation into the attack on members of the opposition party on and before Bangladesh elections.
Vote rigging A BBC Bangla correspondent reported seeing a ballot box already filled with ballots before the polling station in Chittagong opened. Allegations of voting irregularities, including polling booths inexplicably closing for "lunch breaks", voters being turned away, and ballots being counted unrealistically quickly, were widespread. Local media published accounts by correspondents who claimed to have witnessed Awami League members stuffing ballot boxes in the presence of police and election officials. Voters also complained about getting the ruling party's symbol stamped on their ballot papers and being instructed to vote for the ruling party in polling centers. In the presence of the voting officers, some voters had to vote for Awami League candidates and refused to accept, yet their ballots were also dropped into the ballot box. The Bangladesh Election Commission promised to investigate numerous reports of vote rigging.
Suppression of opposition Opposition candidates had encountered violence, threats, and harassment when they attempted to campaign. Dozens of candidates of the main opposition party, the BNP, were arrested on spurious charges. Few electoral agents from the opposition showed up at polling stations. Those who did show up were prevented from entering the stations by supporters of the ruling party, according to Kamal Hossain.
Results