Bangladesh’s prime minister-in-waiting Tarique Rahman has appealed for unity in the country and dedicated his sweeping win to those who “sacrificed for democracy”, as his Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) won with a thumping majority in the recently-concluded parliamentary elections.
“Our paths and opinions may differ, but in the interest of the country, we must remain united,” Tarique said on Saturday in his first speech since the election.
“I firmly believe that national unity is a collective strength, while division is a weakness.”
The Bangladesh Election Commission (EC) published a gazette of the newly-elected members of parliament, showing the official results of the landmark election held on Thursday.
The BNP alliance won 212 seats out of the 299 parliamentary seats, compared with 77 for the Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance, according to the EC.
The National Citizen Party, led by youth activists who played a key role in toppling Sheikh Hasina and part of a Jamaat-led alliance, won just six of the 30 seats it contested, highlighting the difficulty of converting protest momentum into electoral support.
Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus earlier congratulated Tarique for “the landslide victory of his party” as he prepared to step down and hand over power to an elected government.
The 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner said Tarique “would help guide the country toward stability, inclusiveness, and development”.
The opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party has also issued a statement, saying it had accepted the “overall outcome” of the election won by the rival nationalist party, despite having alleged problems with the vote count.
“We recognise the overall outcome, and we respect the rule of law,” Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman said in a statement.
Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman, 67, had initially alleged “inconsistencies and fabrications” in the vote, but earlier on Saturday, he conceded, and said he would “serve as a vigilant, principled, and peaceful opposition”.
Hasina’s Awami League party was barred from taking part.
Late on Friday, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated the BNP, Tarique and “the people of Bangladesh” following the polls.
“The United States looks forward to working with the newly elected government to advance prosperity and the security of the region,” he wrote on X.
The success of Tarique, 60, marks a remarkable turnaround for a man who only returned to Bangladesh in December after 17 years in exile in the United Kingdom, far from Dhaka’s political storms.
His father, former President Ziaur Rahman, was assassinated in 1981, while his mother, Khaleda Zia, served three terms as prime minister and dominated national politics for decades.
“Freedom-loving pro-democracy people of the country have once again brought victory to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party,” he added, in an initial speech in English, before switching to Bangla.
“This victory belongs to Bangladesh, belongs to democracy, this victory belongs to people who aspired to and have sacrificed for democracy,” he said.
Courtesy: Al Jazeera.
Bd-pratidin English/TR
