Voting was underway on Thursday for Bangladesh’s national election, the first since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government was ousted following widespread protests in 2024.
A turnout of 32.8% was recorded till noon, Al Jazeera quoted the Bangladesh Election Commission as saying.
Polling opened at 7.30 am local time and will close at 4.30 pm local time. Counting will begin soon after, with early trends expected around midnight and final results likely by Friday morning, Reuters quoted Election Commission officials as saying.
Nearly 128 million persons are registered to vote, 49% of them women. However, only 83 female candidates are contesting. Almost half of the electorate is between 18 years old and 35 years old, many of them first-time voters, Reuters reported.
Voting is taking place in 299 constituencies. Polling in one constituency in the northern district of Sherpur was postponed because a candidate died during the campaign, Al Jazeera reported.
More than 90% of the country’s 42,779 polling centres are under security camera coverage, with drones and body-worn cameras deployed for the first time in a national vote, Al Jazeera quoted Election Commissioner Abul Fazal Mohammad Sanaullah as saying.
Nearly 9.5 lakh security personnel have also been deployed nationwide.
Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin on Thursday said that the election is progressing in a free and fair manner so far, The Daily Star reported.
“A few untoward incidents...
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