Polls have officially closed in Bangladesh’s historic election, viewed as a key showdown between Tarique Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and an 11-party coalition led by Shafiqur Rahman, the head of the resurgent Jamaat-e-Islami party.
Opinion polls suggest Tarique Rahman is the leading contender for prime minister, but the Jamaat-led alliance, which includes the National Citizen Party (NCP) formed by student leaders from the 2024 uprising, could still deliver an unexpected result, News.Az reports, citing Al Jazeera.
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The parliament consists of 350 lawmakers, with 300 elected directly from single-member constituencies and an additional 50 seats reserved for women. Elections were held for 299 seats due to the death of a candidate.
A referendum on political reforms, including term limits for the prime minister, stronger checks on executive power, and safeguards against the concentration of parliamentary power, was also conducted.
