General Election, 7 January 2024

Bangladesh held general parliamentary elections on 7 January 2024. Bangladesh has a single parliamentary chamber known as the Jatiya Sangsad (Sengupta 2024) with 350 seats. 300 of the 350 Members of Parliament are elected via a first-past-the-post system (International IDEA n.d.). The remaining 50 seats are reserved for women and allotted to parties based on the proportion of seats they hold in parliament. Elections in Bangladesh are managed by the Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC) which is an independent election management body. There is no specific law for the appointment of the election commissioners, however the chief election commissioner shall not hold public office (IFES 2018).  

There were allegations that the government utilized AI tools to spread misinformation about the opposition in the months leading up to the election (Rahman 2024), while the BEC alleged that a distributed denial of service attack originating from servers in Ukraine and Germany had slowed access to the Smart Election Management BD App (Dhaka Tribune 2024). EU observers noted that: The allegations exchanged between [the] two parties largely consisted of misinformation (…) self-censorship in the media undermined their full potential in providing transparency and a platform of debate in this election. On request of the election commission the Ministry of Home Affairs also banned opposition parties’ activities (…) a disproportionate limit on the right of this political party’s right to freedom of speech. (EU EEM 2024: 15)  

The incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League Party won a landslide victory in the 2024 elections with 223 out of 300 seats, a supermajority in Parliament. 62 seats were won by independent candidates who are also closely linked with the Awami League. One major factor contributing to the one-sided results was that the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), chose to boycott the 2024 elections. Independent election monitors from the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) noted that the elections were ‘neither genuine nor competitive’ (International IDEA 2024).  

The elections have been criticized by several independent observers for being inaccessible to the opposition. In the months leading to the 2024 elections, the Awami League engaged in repressive tactics and political coercion, convicting up to 1,500 members of the BNP in various legal cases (Riaz 2024). There were widespread allegations of fraud and reports of restricted election observation and electoral violence (Spinelli 2024). Opposition boycotts (in both 2014 and 2024 elections) coupled with lack of transparency has greatly decreased public confidence in the electoral system and BEC (Spinelli 2024). This was reflected in record low turnout in 2024 (40.9 per cent) as opposed to 80 per cent in 2018 (International IDEA 2024).  

The European Union Election Expert Mission noted that the number of women in key positions within political parties was disproportionally low, and the number of female candidates nominated for the election were few. Women candidates and politicians reported being targeted by gender biased intimidation, and civil society organizations petitioned the BEC and police take measures to curb election related violence against women.

NDI and IRI conducted a technical assessment report on the violence around the elections, stating that there was less physical and online violence compared to previous elections (NDI/IRI 2024).

Two of the EU EEM’s previous recommendations were implemented, however only partly. The first involves new legislation for appointing election commissioners and the chief election commissioner, though the process still lacks full public transparency. The second recommendation, concerning minor changes to the 1972 Representation of the People Order, has seen some amendments, but more are needed to fully address the issue (EU EEM 2024).  

In summer of 2024 the government of Bangladesh was dissolved following massive protests and a non-cooperation movement which led to the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the creation of an interim government.