General elections were held in Bangladesh on 30 December 2018 to elect 300 directly-elected members of the Jatiya Sangsad.^[1] The result was another landslide victory for the Awami League-led Grand Alliance led by Sheikh Hasina. The elections were marred by violence, and were widely considered by opposition politicians and the international community to be rigged.

Quick Facts All 300 directly elected seats in the Jatiya Sangsad 151 seats needed for a majority, Registered ...

2018 Bangladeshi general election

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All 300 directly elected seats in the Jatiya Sangsad 151 seats needed for a majority
Registered	104,156,269
Turnout	80.20% (61.29pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Sheikh Hasina HM Ershad Khaleda Zia Party AL JP(E) BNP Alliance Grand Alliance Grand Alliance Jatiya Oikya Front Last election 72.14%, 234 seats 7.00%, 34 seats Boycotted Seats won 257 26 7 Seat change 23 8 7 Popular vote 63,523,066 4,443,351 11,113,253 Percentage 74.63% 5.22% 13.06% Swing 2.49pp 1.78pp 13.06pp
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Sheikh Hasina AL Subsequent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina AL

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According to political scientist Ali Riaz, the elections were not free and fair.^[2] BBC News, among others, observed some apparent vote rigging by the Awami League.^[3] Opposition leader Kamal Hossain rejected the results, calling it "farcical" and demanding fresh elections to be held under a neutral government. The Bangladesh Election Commission said it would investigate reported vote-rigging allegations from "across the country."^[4][5] The election saw the use of electronic voting machines for the first time.^[6]

The previous general elections in January 2014 were boycotted by the main opposition alliance, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and three-time former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. As a result, the Awami League led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina won a landslide victory, taking 234 of the 300 seats in an election that saw 153 seats uncontested.^[7]

In July 2017, the BNP stated that it was ready to contest the next general elections if parliament was dissolved and the election commission consisted of non-partisan members.^[8] On 14 September 2017 the Official Chief Election Commissioner confirmed that the BNP would contest the elections.^[9] However, following the conviction of BNP chair Khaleda Zia for corruption,^[10] the High Court of Bangladesh ruled that Zia was ineligible to run for office.^[11] As such her role is unclear in any potential government which contained the BNP.

The 350 members of the Jatiya Sangsad consist of 300 directly elected seats using first-past-the-post voting in single-member constituencies,^[12] and an additional 50 seats reserved for women. The reserved seats are distributed based on the proportional vote share of the contesting parties, and filled with women elected by the elected members.^[13] Each parliament sits for a five-year term.

Approximately 100 million voters were expected to vote from 40,199 polling stations across the country.^[14] Electronic voting machines were used in six constituencies.^[15]

Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda initially announced December 23, 2018 as the date of the general election. According to the schedule, the last date for filing candidate nomination papers was November 19, and the last date for withdrawal of candidates was November 29.^[16]

After public hue and cry, the commission rescheduled the election date to December 30, 2018, with December 9 as the last date for withdrawal of candidates on November 12.

In August 2017, Jatiya Party (Ershad) chairman and former President Hussain Ershad indicated that he wanted his party to leave the Awami League-led Grand Alliance and join a new alliance with democratic left and Islamic democratic parties.^{[17][failed verification]} In November 2018 the party announced that it would join the Awami League-led alliance.^[18] On 28 December, Ershad announced Jatiya Party candidates contesting from “open seats” would support the ruling Awami League-led grand alliance candidates and extended his support to "my [his] 'sister' Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina".^[19] Ershad personally withdrew from contesting the Dhaka-17 seat in favour of the Awami League candidate.^[19] Ershad said however that “strong candidates” of his party would stay in the race.^[19]

On 13 October 2018, the Jatiya Oikya Front (National Unity Front) was formed,^[20] consisting primarily of the Gano Forum, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Rab) and Nagorik Oikya,^[21][22] led by former Foreign Minister Kamal Hossain of the Gano Forum. On 18 December the alliance announced a 14-point manifesto, which included a pledge to reduce the power of the office of Prime Minister.^[23]

There was controversy in the run up to the elections surrounding the nomination of banned Jamaati candidates under the BNP banner. In 2013, the hard-line, right-wing, Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami was banned from registering and therefore contesting in elections by the High Court, citing their charter violates the constitution.^[24][25] Twenty-five Jamaati candidates ran in the election, with twenty-two nominations for BNP and three running as independents.^[26][27] An investigation was launched but on 23 December the Election Commission Secretary Helaluddin Ahmed said they had examined the related law and "there is no scope for rejecting the Jamaat leaders' candidacy at this moment."^[27] On 26 December, just days before the election, Jatiya Oikya Front leader Kamal Hossain expressed his regret about Jamaat's involvement in the elections under his alliance, claiming "had I known [that Jamaat leaders will be given BNP tickets] I would not have been part of it."^[28] The media however had reported involvement at the end of November.^[26][29]

Khaleda Zia filed nomination papers for the Bogra-6, Bogra-7 and Feni-1 constituencies. All three sets of nomination papers were rejected by the Election Commission as a result of her convictions in two corruption cases. The Constitution states anyone sentenced to more than 2 years imprisonment for a criminal offence must allow 5 years to lapse before being permitted to contest a parliamentary constituency. The Supreme Court upheld an order issued by the High Court to that effect ending any possibility of Zia contesting a constituency.^[30]

In accordance with election commission rules, campaigning was halted at 08:00 AM on the morning of 28 December.^[31]

Many unregistered political parties officially contested under the banner of some registered political parties. For example, Bangladesh JaSaD's Mayeen Uddin Khan Badal contested as a Awami League candidate, and won. On the other hand, unregistered members of the Jatiya Oikya Front fielded some candidates as Bangladesh Nationalist Party runners. Among them, most notably, Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh fielded 22 candidates who garnered more than 800,000 votes. Some other candidates fielded by Jamaat ran as independents. Likewise, non-aligned parties like Trinomool BNP fielded all of their candidates as independent.

This chart below doesn’t include separate rows for these parties. Rather, it shows results regarding registered parties or independents, as published by the Bangladesh Election Commission.

• The Fifth King of Bhutan and Prime Minister of Bhutan Lotay Tshering congratulated Hasina and her party in a written message of congratulation.^[45]
• Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister of China Li Keqiang greeted Sheikh Hasina on a landslide victory.^[46]
• Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi congratulated Hasina on the landslide victory.^[47]
• Prime Minister of Nepal Khadga Prasad Oli congratulated Hasina on the victory.^[48]
• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas congratulated Hasina on her party's victory in a telephone call .^[49]
• The Emir congratulated Hasina in a written message of congratulation.^[50]
• President Vladimir Putin congratulated Hasina in a written message of congratulation.^[51]
• The King and Crown prince congratulated Hasina and her party in a written message of congratulation.^[52][53]
• The President and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka greeted Sheikh Hasina on a landslide victory.^[54][55]