Tariq Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has declared victory a day after the South Asian country voted in a high-stakes election. This is the first such attack since the 2024 student-led riots that ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The Electoral Commission (EC) released the latest results of the election on Friday, showing that the BNP has so far won 209 of the 297 seats announced.
Recommended stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
Jamaat-e-Islami, which was banned by Hasina’s government, recorded the best performance, winning 68 seats and emerging as the main opposition party in the 350-member parliament. 50 people are recommended members.
The National Civic Party (NCP), a political party born out of the protests, is in third place with six seats. Party leader Nahid Islam managed to win a seat and become one of the youngest members of the new parliament. The NCP fought the elections in alliance with the Jamaat.
Hasina’s Awami League was banned from participating in elections and she fled to India after 15 years of dictatorship.
The general election also included a referendum on the July Charter, which aims to reform state institutions.
The EC announced on Friday that turnout was 59.88%, making it one of the most peaceful and reliable elections in decades.
Who won the elections in Bangladesh?
According to the latest results released by the EC, the BNP won 209 seats. Jamaat won with 68 seats. And the NCP won six seats.
Other parties won seven seats, and independent candidates won the remaining seven seats.
The BNP claimed victory in Friday’s X-Post, with its media page saying, “Bangladesh National Party won majority of seats and plans to form government.”
The party said in a statement that it would not hold any rallies or rallies to celebrate the victory, but would instead hold midday prayers at mosques across the country.
Once the results are officially confirmed, Rahman, son of the late former prime minister Khaleda Zia, is likely to become the next prime minister. The 60-year-old leader returned to Bangladesh from self-imposed exile in Britain weeks before the election. He had fled the country in 2008 after suffering politically motivated persecution.
Reuters reported, citing the EC, that the BNP won 181 seats, Jamaat-e-Islami 61 and others seven seats.
Election authorities have not yet announced official results.
Are there concerns about falsification of results?
Both the NCP and BNP have claimed fraud and tampered with the results, suggesting that some parties have benefited from “election engineering”, although limited concrete evidence has so far been provided.
Jamaat also expressed concern in a statement about the unofficial results posted on its Facebook page.
“We are not satisfied with the process surrounding the election results. From the 11-party coalition’s suspicious losses in various constituencies by narrow margins, to the repeated discrepancies and fabrications in the unofficial results announcements, to the reluctance of the electoral commission to publish turnout numbers, to the signs that parts of the government are leaning towards the major parties, there is no doubt that all of this raises serious questions about the integrity of the results process,” the statement said.
Jamaat called on its supporters to wait for the official results.
Who won and who lost?
According to Bangladesh’s Daily Star newspaper, BNP chairman Rahman was declared the winner in two constituencies, Dhaka 17 and Bogra 6, but the official results have not yet been announced.
Jamaat leader Shafiqur Rahman has won Dhaka’s 15th constituency, according to local media reports.
BNP Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has won the Thakurgaon-1 constituency in northwestern Bangladesh, according to multiple media outlets. He was followed by his closest rival, Jamaat-e-Islam candidate Delwar Hossain.
Asif Nazrul, a law professor at Dhaka University, told Al Jazeera: “Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is expected to aim for victory in the next elections and function as an opposition party. It is natural to expect them to play a responsible and constructive role in parliamentary politics.”
According to local media, independent candidate and former BNP lawmaker Rumin Farhana has won the Brahmanbaria 2 constituency in eastern Bangladesh.
According to local newspapers, the BNP won 13 of Dhaka’s 20 seats. Jamaat won four seats and its ally National Citizens Party (NCP) won one seat.
Local media also reported victories for prominent BNP candidates including Salahuddin Ahmed, Amir Qasr Mahmoud Chaudhry, Lutfozzaman Babar, Mirza Abbas, Fazlur Rahman, Reza Kibria and Bobby Hajjaj.
The NCP was formed by students who led protests against Hasina in 2024. Local media reported that NCP founder Nahid Islam won the Dhaka 11 seat.
“Although the NCP did not achieve much electoral success, its performance was not significant for a party that was formed only a few months before the elections and given its limited experience in electoral politics,” Nazrul said.
“While expectations were high in some quarters, if the NCP positions itself as a constructive and principled political alternative, it could gradually strengthen its position in future elections.”
Was BNP’s victory expected?
Experts say the BNP’s victory was widely expected.
In the months leading up to the election, the BNP had garnered overwhelming support at rallies organized to highlight issues such as unemployment and rising prices. The party helped organize and ride the wave of mass protests that followed the student-led uprising against Hasina’s government.
By May 2025, the BNP was also holding rallies against the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, demanding early elections and other concessions.
“Unlike other participating parties, the BNP has a strong support base across the country, a winning political culture and past experience in governance,” Nazrul said.
“President Tariq Rahman made a positive impact upon his return to Bangladesh and further strengthened the party’s momentum.”
Bangladesh also held a referendum on the July Charter. Did you win?
Voters in Bangladesh cast their votes on two ballots on Thursday. One is a white parliamentary ballot and the other is a pink ballot for the National Charter referendum in July.
According to the latest results released by the EC, 60.26 percent of voters voted in favor of the July Charter.
The charter, drafted by the transitional government led by Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus in response to student protests, outlines a roadmap for constitutional reform, legal reform and the enactment of new laws.
According to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), the draft plan includes more than 80 proposals to overhaul Bangladesh’s governance system, with key reforms “increasing women’s political representation, imposing term limits for the prime minister, strengthening presidential powers, expanding fundamental rights, and protecting the independence of the judiciary.”
The Charter recommends the creation of a 100-member Senate alongside Bangladesh’s current single parliamentary body, the 350-member Parliament.
So far, 72.9 percent of the votes counted are in favor of adopting the charter, compared to 27.1 percent against it, according to local newspaper The Daily Star.
The BNP says it supports implementation of the charter.
“The major political parties appear to agree on almost all of the core issues of the referendum. However, disagreements remain on the specific details, particularly regarding the proposed establishment of the Senate,” Nazrul explained.
“The BNP supports forming parties in proportion to the number of seats, while the Jamaat and NCP support proportional representation. Resolving this dispute remains an important issue.”
What’s next?
Rezaul Karim Roni, a Dhaka-based political analyst, told Al Jazeera that the BNP’s victory signified “a victory for democratic forces.”
“The challenge now is to ensure good governance, law and order, public safety and establish a rights-based state. This was at the heart of the aspirations of the 2024 popular uprising,” Roney told Al Jazeera.
Professor Nazrul of Dhaka University expressed optimism about the future of Bangladesh without Awami League.
“The Awami League has ruled through a one-party parliament after nearly 16 years of fake elections. The current parliament will function without that one party. In my opinion, it is poetic justice,” he said.
“The new parliament includes more diverse voices and competitive political engagement. As a result, the functioning of the parliament is expected to improve. The Awami League should reflect, express remorse and learn from past experiences.”
Hasina, the Awami League leader who remains in India, was convicted of war crimes in November last year for a brutal crackdown on protesters that killed an estimated 1,400 people and injured more than 20,000. India’s refusal to extradite her despite a request from Bangladesh has strained relations between the neighboring countries.
