DHAKA — Polling for Bangladesh’s 13th national parliamentary elections has concluded, and vote counting has begun across the country. The elections follow an 18-month student-led movement that ended Sheikh Hasina’s two-decade rule. The results will determine control of the 300 directly elected seats in the Jatiya Sangsad.
Tough competition is expected between alliances led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, both seeking to secure the most seats. Election officials noted that unofficial results in previous polls usually appeared the next morning, but this year’s counting may take longer due to multiple ballot types and increased candidates.
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The Election Commission said voting took place in 42,761 polling stations across 64 districts for 299 of 300 parliamentary constituencies. Fifty seats are reserved for women and allocated proportionally to parties. Registered voters total 127,711,793, including 64,825,361 men and 62,885,200 women.
For the first time, postal voting was introduced, allowing approximately 15 million overseas Bangladeshi workers to participate. The elections are being closely watched as a test of democratic transition and public sentiment after long-term rule changes.
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Bangladesh’s parliament, the unicameral Jatiya Sangsad, has a total of 350 seats. Three hundred members are directly elected, while the remaining 50 reserved seats are allocated to women to ensure proportional representation.