South Asia Elections
South Asia Elections
Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has secured her fourth straight term, Imran Khan’s candidates won the most votes. He can’t be prime minister. What next?, BJP win almost an inevitability
UPDATES: Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has won her fourth consecutive term in a controversial election. Her party, the Awami League, and its allies secured a significant majority with 225 of the 300 parliamentary seats contested, as the main opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, boycotted the polls. The election was marred by accusations of a sham process and mass arrests of opposition leaders and supporters.
Two of Pakistan’s major political parties - the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) - say they will form a coalition government after last week’s inconclusive elections.
In India’s current political landscape, the consensus among political analysts is that a win for Modi and the BJP is the most plausible outcome.
Taken form PressXPress
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (Taken fromBBC)
Bangladesh election: PM Sheikh Hasina wins fourth term in controversial vote
By Ethirajan Anbarasan & Kelly Ng
Ms Hasina will serve another five years in office after her party the Awami League and its allies won 225 of 300 parliamentary seats contested.
With the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party boycotting the poll, Ms Hasina's party and allies are expected to win the remaining seats as well.
The BNP alleged the poll was a sham.
Sunday's result comes after mass arrests of BNP leaders and supporters.
Official figures suggested a low voter turnout of about 40%, though critics say even those numbers may be inflated. In comparison, the last election in 2018 had a voter turnout of more than 80%.
Political analyst Badiul Alam Majumder told the BBC that the election commission was inflating the voter turnout. "From different sources and media reports, we have seen that the turnout (provided by the election commission) doesn't match with the reality," he said.
Independents, almost all of them from the Awami League itself, won 45 seats and the Jatiya Party won eight seats. Results are expected to be announced officially later on Monday.
It is the fifth term in total for Ms Hasina, who first became prime minister in 1996 and was re-elected in 2009, remaining in power since.
"I am trying my best to ensure that democracy should continue in this country," she told reporters as she cast her vote.
Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader told reporters that Ms Hasina had instructed party leaders and supporters not to hold victory processions or indulge in celebrations.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) estimates that nearly 10,000 activists were arrested after an opposition rally on 28 October turned violent, resulting in the deaths of at least 16 people and injuring more than 5,500. It accused the government of "filling prisons with the ruling Awami League's political opponents".
The Awami League has denied these accusations.
Fears have been raised that this new victory for the Awami League could lead to de-facto one party rule.
Very few expect the government to relax its crackdown - particularly if opposition parties and civil society groups continue to raise questions over the legitimacy of the government.
The BNP boycotted the election after the Awami League rejected their demands for an independent caretaker government to preside over the polls.
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Coalition government deal in Pakistan leaves Imran Khan’s party out of power
By Sophia Saifi
Two of Pakistan’s major political parties - the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) - say they will form a coalition government after last week’s inconclusive elections.
The move means the party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan will not be in power, despite independent candidates affiliated with it gaining the most votes.
At a press conference in Lahore Tuesday, former Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif from the PMLN and former President Asif Ali Zardari from the PPP, along with representatives from four other parties, announced they would be forming a government together.
The PMLN also released a statement that Shahbaz Sharif would be the party’s candidate for prime minister. Earlier on Tuesday, the PPP’s chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had said his party would support the PLMN candidate for prime minister.
The PPP won 54 seats in last Thursday’s election, coming third behind independent candidates - most of whom were associated with former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which won 102 seats, and the PMLN, headed by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, which won 73 seats, according to the country’s election commission.
None of the three major parties won enough seats to have a majority in parliament and, therefore were unable to form a government on their own.
Khan, who is currently in jail and was barred from running in the election, announced separately on Tuesday that the independent candidates associated with his party would join the lesser-known Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen party (MWM), which won only one seat in parliament
Khan also ruled out the possibility of creating a coalition with the PPP or the PMLN.
Khan’s PTI party made claims of wide-scale rigging in the election and also released a statement from Khan saying: “I warn against the misadventure of forming a government with stolen votes. Such daylight robbery will not only be a disrespect to the citizens but will also push the country’s economy further into a downward spiral.”
Speaking at Tuesday’s press conference, Asif Ali Zardari explained how the coalition was formed.
“Looking at everything, we have thought and decided to sit together. We have contested elections against each other but despite that, it is not necessary that [we fight] forever,” Zardari said.
Sharif took a conciliatory tone saying, “Let’s move forward by eliminating mutual differences for the sake of the nation.”
Bhutto Zardari had also said that the PPP would form a committee to deliberate on the party’s vote on important issues such as the national budget, the prime minister’s election, and important legislation.
The party would also field its candidates for the National Assembly speaker, chairman of the Senate, and president, he said.
Under Pakistani law, parliament must convene within 21 days after an election has taken place so lawmakers can be sworn in and then elect a new prime minister.
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BJP win in India’s 2024 general election ‘almost an inevitability’
By The Guardian
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has cut a confident figure in recent weeks. As his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) swept three major state elections in December, Modi did not hold back from predicting that “this hat-trick has guaranteed the 2024 victory”.
It was a sign that with less than six months to go before the general election, in which Modi will be seeking a third term in power, campaign season has begun with gusto.
In India’s current political landscape, the consensus among political analysts is that a win for Modi and the BJP is the most plausible outcome.
The prime minister’s popularity as a political strongman, alongside the BJP’s Hindu nationalist agenda, continues to appeal to the large Hindu majority of the country, particularly in the populous Hindi belt of the north, resulting in the widespread persecution of Muslims.
At state and national level, the apparatus of the country has been skewed heavily towards the BJP since Modi was elected in 2014. He has been accused of overseeing an unprecedented consolidation of power, muzzling critical media, eroding the independence of the judiciary and all forms of parliamentary scrutiny and accountability and using government agencies to pursue and jail political opponents.
While regional opposition to the BJP is strong in pockets of south and east India, nationally it is seen as fragmented and weak. The main opposition Indian National Congress party won the state election in Telangana this month but is in power in only three states overall and is perceived as hierarchical and riddled with infighting.
The recently formed coalition of all major opposition parties – which goes by the acronym INDIA – has yet to unite on crucial issues, though it has vowed to fight the BJP collectively.
“The general sense is that a BJP win is almost an inevitability at this stage,” said Neelanjan Sircar, a fellow at the Centre for Policy research. “The question is more: what factors will shape the scale of the victory?”
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