Bangladesh is holding common elections on Sunday, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina set to win a fourth straight time period and the fifth general for her Awami League-led alliance, regardless of overseeing an economic system that required a global bailout final 12 months.
The most important opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia is boycotting the polls after Hasina denied its demand to resign and let a caretaker authorities run the elections.
Women make up nearly half of the practically 120 million eligible voters. First-time voters quantity about 15 million.
Nearly 2,000 candidates general are vying for the 300 straight elected parliament seats, with a report excessive of 5.1 % of ladies candidates.
There are 436 impartial candidates within the race, essentially the most since 2001. The BNP says the Awami League has propped up “dummy” candidates to attempt to make the election look credible, a declare the ruling celebration denies.
Rights teams have accused the federal government of focusing on opposition leaders and supporters, whereas Hasina and the Awami League have repeatedly condemned the BNP as troublemakers set on sabotaging the elections.
Nearly 800,000 police, paramilitary and police auxiliaries will guard the polls on election day. Officials of the military, navy and air drive have additionally been deployed.
As many as 127 overseas observers will monitor the election course of to evaluate its equity, whereas 59 journalists from overseas have been accredited.
Hasina has been credited with turning across the $416bn economic system and its large clothes trade, whereas additionally profitable worldwide reward for sheltering practically one million Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in neighbouring Myanmar.
But in latest months, the economic system, as soon as among the many world’s quickest rising, was rocked by violent protests after a leap in the price of residing, as Bangladesh struggles to pay for pricey vitality imports amid depleting greenback reserves.
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