Bangladesh's ruling alliance won virtually every parliamentary seat in the country's general election, according to official results released Monday, giving Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina a third straight term despite allegations of intimidation and the opposition disputing the outcome.
The coalition led by Hasina's Awami League party won 288 out of 300 seats — 96 per cent — in Sunday's polls, Election Commission Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed said. The opposition alliance led by prominent lawyer Kamal Hossain won only seven seats.
The opposition rejected the outcome, with Hossain calling the election "farcical" and demanding a new election be held under the authority of a "nonpartisan government."
But Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda ruled out any revote, saying there were no reports of large irregularities.
"There is no scope to hold the election again," Huda said. He said the turnout in Sunday's vote was 80 per cent.
Hasina's main rival for decades has been former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, the leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, whom a court deemed ineligible to run for office because she is in prison for alleged corruption.
In Zia's absence, opposition parties formed a coalition led by Hossain, an 82-year-old former member of Hasina's Awami League. Hasina met political leaders and senior military and civil officials at her office on Monday, the United News of Bangladesh agency reported. It said Indian Prime Minister Naredra Modi telephoned her and promised to continue to support Bangladesh under her leadership.
Hasina said the victory was "nothing for her personal gain, rather it is a great responsibility toward the country and people."
The opposition says Hasina's leadership has become increasingly authoritarian. More than a dozen people were killed in election-related violence on Sunday, and the election campaign was dogged by allegations of the arrest and jailing of thousands of Hasina's opponents.
