Landslide victory for Hasina in B’desh violence-hit polls

Bloomberg

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s party won almost 90 percent of the seats to give the premier an unprecedented fourth term in a vote marked by tight security, violence and a crackdown on the opposition.
Hasina’s Awami League and its close allies won 267 of the 299 seats up for a vote, Election Commission Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed told reporters in Dhaka. The victory allows the ruling party to form a government for a third-straight term, and Hasina’s fourth as prime minister since 1996. The opposition alliance, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party that called the polls a “farcical election,” won seven seats. As many as 18 people were killed in poll-related violence.
The results put Hasina, 71, in position to extend her rule as the longest-serving premier since the nation became independent in 1971. While the economy surged under Hasina’s rule, opposition parties alleged the government suppressed their voice. More than 8,000 activists and leaders from the opposition alliance have been arrested since voting was announced in November, according to rival BNP.
The party’s leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia is now in jail, and her son was recently sentenced in absentia to life in prison.
“While many foreign investors may welcome political continuity, they should beware the stresses building up in the system over time,” said Sasha Riser-Kositsky, a senior analyst at Eurasia Group in New York. Hasina’s “reelection will cement her increasingly authoritarian rule, further marginalising legitimate political opposition and narrowing the possible outlets for peaceful dissent.”
Hasina, who has overseen a harsh security crackdown after terrorist attacks, pledged to accelerate annual economic growth to 10 percent in the next five years and add 12.8 million jobs. The message has helped her woo voters in a contested campaign after the opposition decided not to repeat its previous election boycott. About 80 percent of the 104 million electorate turned up to vote, according to the Election Commission.
“As I got another five years to work for the nation, I will now finish my unfinished tasks,” Hasina said in comments televised on state-run BTV World. She didn’t elaborate on her plans.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called and congratulated Hasina on her victory, while Chinese Ambassador in Dhaka Zhang Zuo conveyed Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang’s message to her.
Under Hasina the economy has boomed. Garment exporters, which account for 13 percent of gross domestic product and sell to companies including Marks & Spencer Group Plc and Calvin Klein Inc., have benefited from the security.
The apparel industry expects a stable political environment to help take annual overseas sales to $50 billion by 2021 from $30 billion.
Bangladesh’s parliament has a single 350-seat chamber with 300 elected representatives.