Feb. 12 (UPI) -- More than 120 million voters in Bangladesh were headed to the polls on Thursday in the first elections since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League government were driven out by mass public protests that swept the country in 2024.
Amid unprecedented security that has seen authorities deploy nearly a million police and troops at polling stations and on the streets, the contest pits the center-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party against an 11-party coalition led by Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Muslim party, for control of the 350-seat parliament, or Sangsad.
The caretaker administration in Dhaka has promised the election will be free and fair but the Awami League, which remains popular in parts of Bangladesh, is banned from running.
Voters are also voting in a referendum to approve a package of sweeping constitutional reforms setting out how the country will be governed, drawn up by the interim government that has run Bangladesh since protesters stormed Hasina's residence in August 2024, forcing her to flee to India.
The charter would rein in executive branch power and boost the system of checks and balances in a bid to avoid any repeat of the abuses of recent decades that enabled Hasina to cling to power for more than 15 years.
