Bangladeshi ruling party wins election boycotted by opposition: Preliminary results

Bangladesh's ruling Awami League party won the required parliamentary seats in the general elections on Sunday, according to preliminary results, a long-known outcome amid election boycott by the opposition parties.

The Awami League won in at least 189 parliamentary seats, ruling party's allies Jatiya Party bagged 11seats, and independent candidates won 60, according to the unofficial results of the Bangladesh Election Commission.

However, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked her supporters not to celebrate the victory.

The voting, which began at 8 a.m. (0200GMT), and continued until 4 p.m. (1000GMT). Around 120 million voters were eligible to take part in the polls to elect new lawmakers to the parliament, locally known as the Sansad.

The voter turnout was 40% in the election, according to chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal, who said the polls were mostly held peacefully. He attributed the low voter turnout to the opposition boycott.

The 2014 general elections, also boycotted by the opposition parties, saw about 40% voter turnout, while it was over 80% in the 2018 election.

The opposition parties led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami party, who boycotted the election, rejected the voter turnout announced by the electoral authority.

They alleged mass fraud and vote rigging in elections under this Awami League-led political government.