2024 Bangladeshi general election

2024 Bangladeshi general election
← 2018 7 January 2024 Next →
300 of the 350 seats in the Jatiya Sangsad
151 seats needed for a majority
Registered119,691,633
Turnout41.8%[1] (Decrease39.4pp)
  First party Second party
 
Sheikh_Hasina_in_Sep_2023.jpg
GM Quader 2023.png
Leader Sheikh Hasina GM Quader
Party AL JP(E)
Leader's seat Gopalganj-3 (won) Rangpur-3 (won)
Last election 74.63%, 257 seats 5.22%, 26 seats
Seats won 224 [2] 11
Seat change Decrease 33 Decrease 15
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election

Sheikh Hasina
AL

Subsequent Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina
AL

Election schedule[3][4][5]
15 November 2023Declaration of the schedule
30 November 2023Application deadline for candidates
1–4 December 2023Scrutiny
17 December 2023Last day of candidacy withdrawal
18 December 2023Symbol allocation
18 December 2023Start of campaign period
5 January 2024End of campaign period
7 January 2024Election day
14 March 2024Election of reserved seats
This article is part of a series on the
Politics of Bangladesh
Constitution
Government
Parliament
Judiciary
Administrative divisions
Elections
Foreign relations
flag Bangladesh portal

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 10% of the eligible voters voting according to an Election Commission, which is run by the ruling political party.[6][3][7][8] 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.[9][10][11]

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.[12][13][14] Hasina's prime ministership has been described as authoritarian since being re-elected in 2008,[15][16][17][18] 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.[14]

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%.[10][8]

The United States Department of State, in a statement, said that the election was not free and fair[19] and the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office termed the election lacking the preconditions of democracy.[20] According to The Economist, through this election, Bangladesh effectively became a one-party state.[21]

Later in August 2024, Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and the 12th Jatiya Sangsad was dissolved and was replaced by an interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus amidst popular student protests in the country. Early elections are expected to be called to elect a new Jatiya Sangsad.[22]

  1. ^ "AL gets 222 seats, independent candidates 62 out of 298 seats". BSS News. 8 January 2024. Archived from the original on 8 January 2024. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  2. ^ "Bangladesh counts votes in low-turnout election boycotted by opposition". Aljazeera. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Bangladesh Election Commission schedules parliamentary polls for Jan 7". bdnews24.com. Archived from the original on 16 November 2023. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  4. ^ "12th national polls on 7 January". The Business Standard. 16 November 2023. Archived from the original on 16 November 2023. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  5. ^ "12th parliament: EC sets Mar 14 for elections to reserved seats for women". BD News 24. 6 February 2024.
  6. ^ "Jatiya Sangsad". Banglapedia. Archived from the original on 14 July 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  7. ^ "Bangladesh to hold parliamentary elections on January 7". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 16 November 2023. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  8. ^ a b "Bangladesh election: PM Sheikh Hasina wins fourth term in controversial vote". BBC News. 7 January 2024. Archived from the original on 7 January 2024. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  9. ^ "AL's Poppy wins Mymensingh-3 race after voting at suspended centre". bdnews24.com. 13 January 2024.
  10. ^ a b Mashal, Mujib; Hasnat, Saif (7 January 2024). "Bangladesh Votes in Election Marred by Crackdown and Boycotts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 8 January 2024. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  11. ^ "AL candidate wins in Naogaon-2". The Daily Star. 13 February 2024.
  12. ^ "Sheikh Hasina's party is set to be re-elected in January". The Economist. 14 December 2023. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 4 January 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  13. ^ Parkin, Benjamin; Reed, John (4 January 2024). "Bangladesh election raises fears of descent into one-party rule". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 4 January 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  14. ^ a b "Bangladesh opposition party holds protest as it boycotts Jan. 7 national election amid violence". AP News. 10 December 2023. Archived from the original on 4 January 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  15. ^ "Sheikh Hasina and the Future of Democracy in Bangladesh". TIME. 2 November 2023. Archived from the original on 4 January 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  16. ^ "Bangladesh's prime minister has plunged her country into authoritarianism". Le Monde. 18 December 2023. Archived from the original on 4 January 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  17. ^ "Bangladesh pushes back at US over visa curbs ahead of election". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 8 January 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  18. ^ Riaz, Ali (29 April 2022). "Bangladesh's Quiet Slide Into Autocracy". Foreign Affairs. ISSN 0015-7120. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  19. ^ "Bangladesh Election 'Not Free Or Fair': US". Barron's. Archived from the original on 8 January 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  20. ^ "UK Says Boycotted Bangladesh Poll Not 'Democratic'". www.barrons.com. Agence France-Presse. Archived from the original on 10 January 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  21. ^ "Bangladesh is now in effect a one-party state". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 9 January 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  22. ^ "Sheikh Hasina forced to resign: What happened and what's next?". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 21 August 2024.