Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina won the re-election for a fifth term in the national election that were conducted on Sunday amidst the boycott by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by former PM Khaleda Zia, who is currently in jail.
According to media reports, Sheikh Hasina’s party Awami League has won a fourth consecutive term in the 12th parliamentary election, marking the second lowest voter turnout since the reinstatement of democracy in 1991.
Ms Hasina will serve another five years in office after her party and its allies won 223 of 300 parliamentary seats contested.
The Bangladesh PM retains her title as the world’s longest-serving female head of government after her party swept more than half of the parliament seats.
The BNP boycotted the election after the Awami League rejected their demands for an independent caretaker government to preside over the polls.
Mr Rahman, who is the son of Ms Hasina’s bitter rival, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, denied accusations that BNP party workers were involved in arson attacks in the run up to the poll.
Ms Zia is currently under house arrest on charges of corruption.
In 2018 Mr Rahman was convicted in absentia of orchestrating a grenade attack on a campaign rally for Ms Hasina in 2004 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Ms Hasina was injured and at least 20 others were killed in that incident.
“All allegations against me are baseless and rooted in political vengeance,” he said.