Votes are being counted in Bangladesh after its first election since student-led protests ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024.
More than 2,000 candidates are vying for 300 elected seats in parliament, though none are from the banned Awami League of Hasina, who fled after 15 years in power following a brutal security crackdown in which hundreds of protesters were killed.
The election pits the centre-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) against a coalition led by the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami, which joined forces with a party born out of the student uprising. Results are expected on Friday, and there's widespread hope among voters for a return to democracy.
For the first time since 2008, the outcome of an election in Bangladesh cannot be predicted with certainty. Past elections were widely condemned as systematic fraud in favor of Sheikh Hasina.
She has been convicted and sentenced to death in absentia for ordering the brutal crackdown against protesters, where the UN estimates up to 1,400 were killed. Hasina is in exile in India, where she rejects the charges and questions the election's legitimacy.
Despite the ban on her party, voters express feeling like they have a choice, with over 120 million eligible, about 40% of whom are under 37. Voting also includes a referendum on constitutional changes aimed at addressing the country's broken political system.
Bangladesh's interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, proclaimed that the country has ended the nightmare and begun a new dream. Turnout had reached 49%, with one million police and soldiers deployed for security.
Leading candidates like Tarique Rahman of the BNP and Jamaat's Shafiqur Rahman have shared hopes for reform, yet many female voters feel sidelined despite their prominent role in the protests.
The election signifies a critical turning point for Bangladesh, with existing dynastic politics in question, yet all eyes remain on the fairness of this pivotal vote.
