DHAKA, 3 October — Khaleda Zia, leader of the Bangladesh N ationalist Party, was yesterday celebrating a crushing election victory, but her bitter rival and outgoing Prime Minister Hasina Wajed declared the poll was rigged. Out of 233 seats already declared, the BNP-led alliance of Islamic and other parties bagged 167, a massive lead over the 50 won by Hasina’s Awami League, the official BSS news agency reported.
Khaleda declared her victory a mandate against her rival’s “misrule”, pledging to fight terrorism, corruption and restore the rule of law. She extended an offer to her rival to work jointly to solve the country’s problems. But news of the result prompted an angry response from Hasina, who replaced Khaleda as prime minister in 1996 and became the first Bangladeshi leader to complete a full five-year term.
“The election was rigged... Our polling agents were tied up or driven out in many places,” she told reporters outside her Dhaka residence. At a later press conference she held open the threat of boycotting parliament.
Her allegation came despite a positive verdict from a group of 200 international observers deployed nationwide to ensure a fair vote after a violent election campaign that claimed more than 140 lives, including three people on polling day. Tony Reis, coordinator of the United Nations Electoral Assistance Secretariat teams, said observers agreed the elections were “generally free and fair” but expressed concern over intimidation and violence.
The apparent ease of the BNP’s victory was a dramatic upset after a neck-and-neck campaign that analysts had said was too close to call. Hasina “is definitely unhappy because this is an unbelievable outcome,” a League source said.
Meanwhile, a delighted Khaleda thanked her supporters after learning of the early returns, which showed a further 17 seats seized by an allied Islamist party. “I am overwhelmed with the massive support and love of the people and am grateful to them,” she said, according to state media. Both leaders contested five constituencies, but only Khaleda won in all of them. Hasina lost in at least one, television tallies said.
While the blood-stained campaigning was dominated by the intense rivalry between Hasina and Khaleda, the BNP alliance is seen on the policy front as being more Islamist-minded and hostile to India. The Awami League had warned that a BNP victory would bring hard-line Islamic parties into government and threaten the secular nature of Bangladesh, which split from Pakistan in a 1971 civil war.
