Ballots are being tabulated in Bangladesh’s parliamentary elections Thursday, the primary since a youth-led rebellion ousted then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024. Turnout within the polls is predicted to be round 60 p.c, larger than the 42 p.c seen within the final election two years in the past, Reuters reported, citing native media retailers.
Many Bangladeshis stated this was their first time taking part within the electoral course of since 2008, the 12 months Hasina and her Awami League social gathering returned to energy. Subsequent elections had been marred by allegations of widespread fraud and intimidation as opposition events had been severely repressed.
The mass protests in 2024 lastly led Hasina to resign and flee to India, however not earlier than her safety forces killed as many as 1,400 demonstrators in what might quantity to crimes towards humanity, in line with a U.N. inquiry. For the previous 12 months and a half, the nation has been led by an interim authorities helmed by economist and Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus.
