Bangladeshi election body rejects fresh polls call

By SM Najmus Sakib and Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Bangladesh’s election body on Monday ruled out a fresh election call from the main opposition alliance, which rejected the Sunday's polls over alleged vote rigging.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Bangladesh Awami League party clinched a landslide victory in the violence-marred and mostly-boycotted elections.

According to unofficial results reported by state-run BSS news agency, the ruling party-led alliance won 288 out of 300 seats, securing a third consecutive victory for Hasina, who has been governing the country since 2008.

Out of the 298 results announced, Hasina’s Awami League got 259 seats and its biggest ally Jatya Party secured 20 seats in the national parliament, while the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led (BNP) alliance won only 7 seats.

At a news conference in Dhaka on Monday, the country's Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda ruled out any scope of holding fresh election stating that ballot stuffing allegations are "completely untrue."

"There was no incident of irregularities noticed by the Election Commission," Huda underlined.

He claimed the voter turnout was 80 percent. The election commission is investigating allegations of vote rigging, according to the chief election commissioner.

Following the day-long voting, the BNP-led main opposition alliance rejected the elections Sunday evening, claiming nationwide vote-rigging, a charge the government denies. They also demanded a fresh election under a nonpartisan government.

- 'Mockery'

Kamal Hossain, head of the opposition National Alliance (Jatiyo Oikyafront), told reporters hours after the voting ended that the election was a “mockery” and demanded the commission to cancel it.

Hossain said their candidates in 100 out of 298 constituencies across the country pulled out of the election, citing various irregularities, including vote-rigging and capturing of polling stations by ruling Awami League party members and supporters.

Over 50 candidates of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, all 25 candidates of its ally Jamaat-e-Islami party, and some other independent candidates were among those who boycotted the election, citing mass vote-stuffing and a “controlled election” allegedly by the government.

Some other small opposition parties, including the Islami Andolan Bangladesh and left-leaning Ganosamhati Andolon, also boycotted the election in the middle of the day-long voting.

At least 19 people were killed and around 200 other injured in the election day violence across the country.

Voting was suspended in 2 constituencies -- one for the natural death of a candidate and another for election day violence.

Voting officially ended at 4 p.m. local time (1000GMT), amid deadly clashes across the country.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the voters had gained benefits of the development works of her government and so the people reelected them for more economic development.

Hasina sees the victory as "great opportunity" to serve the country highlighting that the opposition alliance was defeated because of their criminal activities, without clarifying what kind of criminal activities they carried out.

- Reported election violations

The Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), a Dhaka-based anti-graft watchdog, demanded a judicial investigation into the reported election violations.

"The set of violence and multifaceted violations of election code that has raised doubts over the election and its results must be investigated impartially,” TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman said in a press release.

TIB saw the election "questionable and debatable" due to allegations of violations of the code of conduct, use of force, and deaths of 19 people.

Human Rights Watch's South Asia director Meenakshi Ganguly also expressed concerns about the credibility of the elections.

"With serious allegations of voter intimidation, restrictions on opposition polling agents and several candidates seeking a re-poll, there are concerns about credibility of #BangladeshElection2018," she said in a Twitter post on Sunday.

Nur Khan, former director of Ain o Salish Kendra, a local human rights body, told Anadolu Agency there were less number of deaths in this election compared to previous elections and called it a “positive” sign.

But since last September, up to election opposition leaders and activists have been arrested and harassed in political cases.

Khan noted that there were no polling agents of the opposition in most of the polling centers and said: “gross vote rigging is clearly proved.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck congratulated Hasina over her landslide victory.