The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has won a decisive two-thirds majority in general elections, a result expected to bring stability after months of tumult following the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in a Gen Z-led uprising.
Latest counts in an election seen as the South Asian nation's first truly competitive in years gave the BNP and its allies at least 212 of the 299 seats up for grabs, domestic TV channels said on Friday.
The opposition Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies won 70 seats in the parliament.
The BNP, which returns to power after 20 years, thanked the people soon after winning a majority in the overnight vote count and called for special prayers on Friday for the nation and its people.
"Despite winning ... by a large margin of votes, no celebratory procession or rally shall be organised," the party said in a statement.
The National Citizen Party (NCP), led by youth activists who played a key role in toppling Hasina and was a part of the Jamaat-led alliance, won just five of the 30 seats it contested.
A clear outcome had been seen as key for stability in the nation of 175 million after months of deadly anti-Hasina unrest disrupted everyday life and industries such as garments, in the export of which Bangladesh is No.2 globally.
"A strong majority gives BNP the parliamentary strength to pass reforms efficiently and avoid legislative paralysis. That alone can create short-term political stability," Selim Raihan, an economics professor at the University of Dhaka, told Reuters news agency.
BNP leader Tarique Rahman is widely expected to be sworn in as prime minister. The son of the party's founder, former president Ziaur Rahman, returned in December to the capital, Dhaka, from 18 years abroad.
In its manifesto, the BNP promised to prioritise job creation, protect low-income and marginal households and ensure fair prices to farmers.
"If the factories run regularly and we get our wages on time, that’s what matters to us. I just want the BNP government to bring back stability so more orders come to Bangladesh and we can survive," Josna Begum, 28, a garment worker and mother of two, told Reuters after the results.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the US ambassador to Bangladesh, Brent T. Christensen, were among the first to congratulate Rahman on his party's victory.
BNP supporters celebrate
The Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami conceded defeat late on Thursday night once trends became clear, but said in a statement on Friday that it was "not satisfied" with the process and asked its followers to stay patient.
Now in exile in New Delhi, Hasina long dominated Bangladesh politics along with Rahman's mother, Khaleda Zia, while his father was a leading independence figure who ruled from 1977 to 1981 before he was assassinated.
The BNP win with more than 200 seats is one of its biggest, surpassing its 2001 victory with 193, although Hasina's Awami League, which ruled for 15 years and was barred from contesting this time, secured a bigger tally of 230 in 2008.
But elections of other years were boycotted by one of the main parties or were contentious.
Overnight, throngs of supporters cheered and shouted slogans at the BNP headquarters in Dhaka as the scale of the party's landslide became clear.
Turnout exceeded the 42 per cent of the last election in 2024, with nearly 60 per cent of registered voters participating in the election on Thursday, according to local media.
More than 2,000 candidates, many independents among them, were on the ballot, which featured a record number of at least 50 parties. Voting in one constituency was postponed after a candidate died.
Broadcaster Jamuna TV said more than 2 million voters chose "Yes", while more than 850,000 said "No" in a referendum on constitutional reforms held alongside the election, but there was no official word on the outcome.
The changes include two-term limits for prime ministers and stronger judicial independence and women's representation while providing for neutral interim governments during election periods, and setting up a second house of the 300-seat parliament.
Peaceful polls
Party workers spent the whole night in front of the BNP offices.
"We will join the nation-building effort led by Tarique Rahman," Md Fazlur Rahman, 45, told Agence France-Presse.
"Over the last 17 years, we have suffered a lot."
Heavy deployments of security forces are posted countrywide, and UN experts warned ahead of the voting of "growing intolerance, threats and attacks", and a "tsunami of disinformation".
Political clashes killed five people and injured more than 600 during campaigning, police records show.
But polling day was largely peaceful, according to the Election Commission, which reported only "a few minor disruptions".
'Ended the nightmare'
Interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who will step down once the new government takes power, has urged all to stay calm.
"We may have differences of opinion, but we must remain united in the greater national interest," he said.
The 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has led Bangladesh since Hasina's rule ended with her ouster in August 2024.
His administration barred her Awami League party from contesting the polls.
Yunus said the election had "ended the nightmare and begun a new dream".
Hasina, 78, sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity, issued a statement decrying an "illegal and unconstitutional election".
Yunus has championed a sweeping democratic reform charter to overhaul what he called a "completely broken" system of government and to prevent a return to one-party rule.
Voters also took part in a referendum on the proposals for prime ministerial term limits, a new upper house of parliament, stronger presidential powers and greater judicial independence.
Television projections suggested 65 percent of votes had endorsed the charter.
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