Bangladesh Nationalist Party secured a two-thirds majority in the first general election held after the removal of the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina on 5 August 2024 following student-led protests. The results were declared on Friday after voting took place on Thursday in the absence of Hasina.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party returned to power after 20 years by winning 212 of the 299 parliamentary seats along with its allies. Jamaat-e-Islami secured 77 seats, while the National Citizen Party won six seats. The Awami League did not participate in the election due to a ban on contesting.
Following the victory, the party is expected to form the government. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party had earlier announced that Tarique Rahman would become Prime Minister upon the party’s electoral victory. Tarique Rahman, 60, son of former President Ziaur Rahman and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, returned to Bangladesh from London in December 2024. He won from the Dhaka-17 and Bogura-6 constituencies and subsequently assumed leadership of the party after the death of Khaleda Zia.
The party urged its supporters to exercise restraint and offer prayers instead of organising victory processions or rallies.
The election followed large-scale student-led protests on 5 August 2024 that led to the removal of the Awami League government headed by Sheikh Hasina. Political instability and a fragile security situation were reported in July and August 2024 during the protests. Alongside the parliamentary election, a referendum was held on an 84-point constitutional reform package, in which approximately 60 percent of voters voted in favour of the proposals.
India, the United States, China and Pakistan extended congratulations on the election outcome and the victory of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Tarique Rahman. The United States Embassy in Dhaka described the election results as democratically welcome. Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party alleged irregularities and manipulation in the election results. Jamaat-e-Islami stated that it would launch a large-scale movement if the public mandate was taken away.
