Polls have closed and counting is underway in Bangladesh’s general election, marked by low voter turnout and a boycott by the opposition and its allies.
Sunday’s “unilateral” vote, as the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) put it, will keep Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in power for a fourth consecutive term and fifth term overall.
It was the 12th general election in the nation of 170 million people since it split from Pakistan and became an independent state in 1971.
The opposition announced its boycott of the vote last year after Hasina refused to resign and make way for a neutral caretaker government to conduct the elections. There was a similar boycott by the opposition in 2014.
Turnout was around 40 percent, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal said, almost half of the more than 80 percent in the 2018 election. Initial results are expected early Monday.
“The key issue in this election is not who will win – the result is predetermined – but rather a test of their credibility,” said Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull, reporting from the capital Dhaka.
