Bangladesh Votes Today, Sheikh Hasina Seeks Fourth Term as Prime Minister

Agencies
December 30, 2018

Dhaka, Dec 30: Bangladesh headed to the polls Sunday following a weeks-long campaign that was dominated by deadly violence and allegations of a crackdown on thousands of opposition activists.

Voting began at 8.00 am (0200 GMT) amid tight security in a vote that is expected to deliver a historic but tainted fourth general election victory for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Some 600,000 security personnel are deployed across the South Asian nation -- including at 40,000 polling stations.

There was fresh violence on the eve of the vote when a ruling party activist was allegedly killed by supporters of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Islamist ally, Jamaat-e-Islami.

"He was attacked with rocks. He died on the way to hospital," Mohammad Niamutullah, police chief in the southern town of Patia said.

The death brought to four the number of people confirmed killed by police since the timetable for the election was announced on November 8, marking the country's 11th parliamentary election since independence in 1971.

The BNP claims eight of its activists have died.

Around 104 million voters are choosing between an alliance led by Hasina's ruling Awami League party and a coalition headed by the BNP which was cobbled together only three months ago.

Opinion polls show Hasina, who has presided over impressive economic growth during an unbroken decade in power but who is also accused of growing authoritarianism, heading for a comfortable victory.

She needs 151 seats in the first-past-the-post system to win in the 300-seat parliament but experts say any victory would be sullied by accusations that she hamstrung her opponents' campaign.

The opposition says more than 15,000 of its activists have been arrested, crippling its ability to mobilise its grassroots support.

Human Rights Watch and other international groups have decried the crackdown, saying it has created a climate of fear which could prevent supporters of opposition parties from casting their ballots.

The United States has also raised concerns about the credibility of the Muslim-majority country's election while the United Nations has called for greater efforts to make the vote fair.

Seventeen opposition candidates were arrested over what they claim are trumped up charges while another 17 were disqualified from running by courts which are allegedly controlled by Hasina.

"This is not (a) free and fair election. It is more a controlled selection," said a Western diplomat who has been monitoring the run-up to the polls and who asked not to be named.

Badiul Alam Majumder, the leader of a Bangladesh civil society group, said the alleged crackdown had "created a perception that the incumbent government will return to power".

"Never in my life I have seen such kind of election. The election commission has totally failed to do its job," he told news agency.

Mobile internet shutdown

The BNP, the main player in the alliance headed by Kamal Hossain, an 82-year-old Oxford-educated lawyer who drew up Bangladesh's constitution, has accused the election commission of bias -- allegations it denies.

Hasina herself has rejected accusations of creeping authoritarianism and called for voters to back her to further bolster the economy which has expanded over six percent a year since she won the 2008 election.

The daughter of Bangladesh's first president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina was gifted victory in the 2014 election when the BNP boycotted the vote claiming it wasn't free or fair.

Since then, rights groups have accused Hasina's administration of stifling freedom of speech through the toughening of a draconian anti-press law and the enforced disappearance of government dissenters.

BNP leader Khaleda Zia, an arch-rival of the prime minister, was sentenced to 17 years in jail earlier this year on charges that her party says are politically motivated.

Authorities have ordered the country's mobile operators to shut down 3G and 4G servicesuntil midnight on Sunday "to prevent the spread of rumours" that could trigger unrest.

Polls close at 4:00 pm (1000 GMT).

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 21,2020

Beijing, Mar 21: China reported no domestically transmitted coronavirus cases for the third consecutive day even as seven more fatalities have been confirmed, taking the death toll in the country to 3255.

No new domestically transmitted cases of COVID-19 were reported on the Chinese mainland for the third day in a row on Friday, China's National Health Commission (NHC) said on Saturday.

The overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 81,008 by the end of Friday, which included 3,255 who died, 6,013 patients still undergoing treatment, 71,740 patients who had been discharged after recovery, the NHC said.

The NHC said 41 new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported on the Chinese mainland on Friday from the people arriving from abroad, taking the total number of imported cases to 269.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 22,2020

Geneva, Jun 22: The global count of coronavirus cases has surpassed 8.7 million, with 183,020 new cases recorded on Sunday, the World Health Organisation said in its daily situation report.

Over the last 24 hours, 4,743 people died from COVID-19 worldwide, taking the death toll to 461,715 fatalities, according to the report.

The cumulative global toll of confirmed cases has now reached 8,708,008, as stated in the report.

The WHO Regional Director for Europe, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, shared that Europe accounts for 31 per cent of COVID-19 cases and 43 per cent of COVID-19 deaths globally.

Dr Kluge highlighted that several countries continue to face increasing disease incidence and that "preparing for the autumn is a priority now at the WHO Regional Office for Europe"

The United States continues to be worst affected by the contagion with the highest count of cases and fatalities -- 2.2 million and 118,895, respectively.

The novel coronavirus was declared a pandemic by WHO on March 11.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 4,2020

Mar 4: Twenty-one Italian tourists and three Indian tour operators have been sent to an ITBP quarantine facility in Delhi on Tuesday for suspected coronavirus exposure, official sources said.

Health Ministry sources said these foreigners, 13 women and eight men, were in the same group of which an Italian and his wife have tested positive in Rajasthan capital Jaipur.

“His (Italian in Jaipur) condition is stable,” a source said.

Three Indians, who were accompanying this Italian group as tour operators, have also been sent to the ITBP facility in Chhawla area of south-west Delhi, they said.

All these people, staying at a five-star hotel in south Delhi, have been put in “preventive isolation” at the ITBP camp and their samples will be taken on Wednesday, sources said.

The centre already has 112 people, 76 Indians and 36 foreigners, since February 27 after they were evacuated by an IAF plane from Wuhan in China, the epicentre of the coronavirus.

The first samples of these 112 people had tested negative when reports came in last week.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.