Sheikh Hasina tightens grip over Bangladesh, winning fifth term in election boycotted by opposition

Hasina’s ruling Awami League has won the election, an election commission spokesman said in the early hours of Monday morning, after a vote that initial reports suggested had a meagre turnout of some 40 per cent.

She has presided over breakneck economic growth in a country once beset by grinding poverty, but her government has been accused of rampant human rights abuses and a ruthless opposition crackdown.

Her party faced almost no effective rivals in the seats it contested, but it avoided fielding candidates in a few constituencies, in an apparent effort to avoid the legislature being branded a one-party institution.

The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), whose ranks have been decimated by mass arrests, called a general strike and, along with dozens of others, refused to participate in a “sham election”.

While the final result and exact figures will be formally announced at a ceremony later on Monday, election commission officials said Hasina’s party had won around three-quarters of seats, at least 220 of the total 300.

But support of other lawmakers including from allied parties could push Hasina’s control over parliament even higher.