Dhaka, Jan 8 (IANS) Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League has gained more than half of seats in Parliament in the country’s general elections, according to initial results released by the Election Commission (EC) officials from different parts of the country on Sunday evening.
Bangladesh held general elections on Sunday to elect 299 members of the Parliament, Xinhua news agency reported.
Voting at a constituency has been postponed due to the death of a candidate.
Awami League President and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been elected from her Gopalganj-3 seat in the Sunday national elections, as per preliminary information.
She bagged 2,49,962 votes while her nearest rival National People`s Party (NPP) candidate Sheikh Abul Kalam got 460 votes only.
The 76-year-old Sheikh Hasina has been in power for 15 straight years — the longest-serving leader in Bangladesh’s history — and tenure has been marked by allegations of authoritarian rule, targeting of the opposition, suppression of people’s rights and large-scale vote rigging in elections held to keep her in power, a media report said.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Hasina has instructed party leaders, workers, and supporters not to bring out any victory procession after the announcement of results of the 12th general elections, as per Awami League’s Deputy Office Secretary, Sayem Khan. “AL President Sheikh Hasina has already instructed the party leaders, workers and supporters not to bring out any victory procession and not to get involved in conflict with any candidate and his or her supporters after the announcement of the election results,” he told media persons here.
