Bangladesh PM-to-be celebrates landslide win, thanks protesters
Prime minister-in-waiting Tarique Rahman dedicated his victory to those who ‘sacrificed for democracy’ after the first polls since a deadly 2024 uprising
Bangladesh’s prime minister-in-waiting Tarique Rahman on Saturday dedicated his landslide election win to those who “sacrificed for democracy”, calling for unity after the first polls since a deadly 2024 uprising.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Rahman, 60, the scion of one of the most powerful political dynasties, is set to lead the South Asian nation of 170 million people after sweeping elections on Thursday.
“This victory belongs to Bangladesh, belongs to democracy,” he said, in his first speech since the vote. “This victory belongs to people who aspire to and have sacrificed for democracy.”
He will take over from an interim government that has steered Bangladesh since the student-led uprising ended the iron-fisted rule of Sheikh Hasina in August 2024.
Rahman’s success marks a remarkable turnaround for a man who only returned to Bangladesh in December after 17 years in exile in Britain, far from Dhaka’s political turmoil.
The BNP alliance won 212 seats, compared with 77 for the Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance of 11 political parties, according to the Electoral Commission.