General elections were held in Bangladesh on 7 January 2024 in accordance with the constitutional requirement, stating that elections must take place within the 90-day period before the expiration of the current term of the Jatiya Sangsad on 29 January 2024. The Awami League, led by incumbent Sheikh Hasina, won the election for the fourth consecutive time with less than 40% of the eligible voters voting according to an Election Commission, which was run by the ruling political party. The party won 224 seats while independent candidates, most of whom were Awami League members propped up as dummy candidates to give a semblance of competition, won 62 seats.
In the lead-up to the election, the incumbent government led by Sheikh Hasina cracked down on opposition parties and silenced critics of the government. Hasina's prime ministership has been described as authoritarian since being re-elected in 2008, and in 2011 removed the requirement that a temporary independent caretaker government be formed to hold elections. The main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, boycotted the elections (as they did in 2014) as they assumed that the election commission under the incumbent government were unable to organise a free and fair election.
A protest over the election turnout emerged as the Chief Election Commissioner initially claimed, based on the data at hand, that turnout was 28%, but later retracted that statement to claim turnout was around 40%.
The United States Department of State, in a statement, said that the election "was not free and fair" and the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office termed the election "lacking the preconditions of democracy." According to The Economist, through this election, Bangladesh "effectively became a one-party state."
On 5 August 2024, Sheikh Hasina fled the country, facing a widespread student protest that turned into a national uprising against her rule. The movement succeeded and the 12th Jatiya Sangsad was dissolved. An interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus took charge as per the demand of the students. Both Sheikh Hasina (by virtue of being sentenced to death) and her party are barred from running in the 2026 election.
Schedule Poll Event Schedule Declaration of the schedule 15 November 2023 Application deadline for candidates 30 November 2023 Scrutiny of nomination 1–4 December 2023 Last Date for Withdrawal of nomination 17 December 2023 Symbol allocation 18 December 2023 Start of campaign period 18 December 2023 End of campaign period 5 January 2024 Date of Poll 7 January 2024 Date of Counting of Votes 7 January 2024 Date of reserved seats Poll 14 March 2024
Background The Awami League won the 2018 general elections and formed the government. The first session of the parliament sat on 30 January 2019. As the tenure of a parliament lasts five years in Bangladesh, the Sangsad was scheduled to expire on 29 January 2024.
The main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), demanded that the government hand over power to a neutral caretaker government before the next elections. This has been rejected by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who vowed that "Bangladesh will never allow an unelected government again". Hasina's resistance to a caretaker government arose following the 2006–2008 crisis, during which a caretaker government assumed military control of the country and arrested a number of political leaders, including Hasina and BNP leader Khaleda Zia. Zia was sentenced to prison for five years on 8 February 2018, for her involvement in the Zia Orphanage corruption case. The sentence was then modified to 10 years. Khaleda Zia's successor as chair of the party, her son Tarique Rahman, was also found guilty of criminal conspiracy and multiple counts of murder for a grenade attack in 2004 that injured Hasina and killed 24 people. He was sentenced to life in prison. As such, he was barred from running for office.
In order to guarantee that the election will be conducted in accordance with electoral law and the constitution, the 2024 Bangladesh Election Commission was formed on 27 February 2022. It is responsible for announcing election schedules, outlining constituency zones, preparing electoral rolls, supervising the elections, announcing the election's results, and establishing election boards to settle any election disputes. It is chaired by Kazi Habibul Awal, Md. Alamgir, Anisur Rahman, Rashida Sultana Emily and Ahsan Habib Khan.
In the election, President Mohammed Shahabuddin and first lady Rebecca Sultana used a postal ballot to cast their vote on 3 January 2024. It is the first instances of using postal ballot in the history of elections in Bangladesh.
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, and an additional 50 seats reserved for women. The reserved seats are selected by the elected constituency members via the single transferable vote. Each parliament sits for a five-year term.
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.
Pre-electoral statistics and information According to the data released by the Election Commission on 4 January 2024, the total number of voters in the next parliamentary election is 119,689,289 people. Among them, 60,769,741 are men voters, 58,918,699 are women voters and 849 hijra voters. According to EC, 28 political parties and a total of 1,970 candidates are contesting the election, of which 436 are independent candidates. Total final polling centres are 42,148 and final polling booths are 261,564.
Controversies The BNP has demanded that there should be a caretaker government during election season because, as Citizens for Good Governance founder-secretary Badiul Alam Majumder has claimed, every election in Bangladesh that was not conducted under a caretaker government has been marred by irregularities. Without a caretaker government, the BNP has stated its intent to boycott the elections. On 17 May 2023, BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said: "[Our] movement and elections cannot go hand in hand. Participating in elections under [the current government] means to validate them. We cannot continue our movement with those who compete in the elections when the leaders and activists are being arrested and harassed while protesting to free the country from this illegal government. Rather, it is time to identify them and uproot them politically." On 3 June 2023, the BNP expelled 43 of its leaders for life as a result of their decision to participate in the Sylhet City Corporation election.
Jamaat-e-Islami was banned from participating in elections in 2013, and many of its former leaders have gone on to form the Bangladesh Development Party (BDP), which intends to participate in the elections. The president of the BDP, Anwarul Islam Chan, has denied any affiliations with the Jamaat, saying: "The post-liberation generation was born after independence. We are a political party and not interested in such issues" as opposing Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan.
The Awami League, on the other hand, has insisted that a caretaker government would be unconstitutional and that the Election Commission is independent and sanctioned by law.
The Bangladeshi Ministry of Foreign Affairs asserted "the electoral process will remain under strict vigilance, including by international observers as accredited by the Election Commission." Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen said on 10 April 2023, in a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the independent election commission is key to holding fair, transparent elections.
Foreign positions United States On 23 May 2023, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new visa policy vis-a-vis Bangladesh to support the country's goal of holding free, fair, and peaceful national elections. The policy states that the US would "restrict the issuance of visas for any Bangladeshi individual, believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic election process in Bangladesh", including "current and former Bangladeshi officials, members of pro-government and opposition political parties, and members of law enforcement, the judiciary, and security services". The policy lists actions that would undermine the election process as "vote rigging, voter intimidation, the use of violence to prevent people from exercising their right to freedoms of association and peaceful assembly, and the use of measures designed to prevent political parties, voters, civil society, or the media from disseminating their views".
The restrictions were meant to act as a signal to the Bangladeshi government to hold democratic elections and to the BNP to participate in the elections, as a boycott of them could lead to instability. When asked how the US would navigate a situation in which a party that refuses to participate in the national election would later claim that the election was unfair, US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said: "I don't have anything else to get into, as it's an internal, domestic election" and that all the US wants is that it should be free, fair, and reflective of the will of the Bangladeshi people.
On 1 August 2023, US Ambassador Peter Haas announced after meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal that a US pre-election monitoring team consisting of experts with previous experience in election monitoring and preparation, would arrive in Bangladesh in October before the election which was subsequently cancelled.
United Nations On 4 August 2023, the United Nations denounced pre-election violence in Bangladesh, calling for police "to refrain from excessive use of force amid recurring violence and mass arrests ahead of general elections". This is a human rights issue concerning violence erupting at opposition rallies in 2023, and the harsh response by police using rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons. A UN spokesman said: "Police, alongside men in plain clothing, have been seen using hammers, sticks, bats and iron rods, among other objects, to beat protesters". He added that hundreds of people who oppose the government have been arrested before and during the rallies.
UN concerns have arisen after Sheikh Hasina rejected demands by the BNP and its allies for the government to step down and allow the January election to be held under a neutral caretaker government. The UN has stressed that Hasina's government "must abide by their human rights obligations and allow people to exercise their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of opinion and expression".
Responding to the UN statement, Mahfuz Anam commented: "From the looks of it, our two major political parties are preparing for 'gladiatorial' street fights as a part of their election preparation. Can this be democracy?" Later, on 4 August, Information Minister Hasan Mahmud attacked the BNP during a mosquito eradication conference in Dhaka, saying: "Dengue mosquitoes bite people and BNP puts people on fire and burns cars. Therefore, like dengue, BNP has to be prevented".
Soon after Mahfuz Anam spoke, there was a meeting in Dhaka of the 14-party alliance led by the Awami League. They announced a rally to be held on 7 August before Awami League HQ on Bangabandhu Avenue. The purpose of the rally is to protest against the "terror and anarchy" of BNP and to "prevent any conspiracy of the BNP-Jamaat". A spokesman said alliance members will take to the streets across the whole country, besides Dhaka.
Others