Because the high-stakes common election in Bangladesh started on Sunday morning, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stated her authorities needed to make sure that democracy continued to prevail within the nation. She additionally stated a rustic can not progress within the absence of a secure democracy.
“Our nation is sovereign and impartial. We could also be a small nation, however we’ve got a giant inhabitants. Now we have established individuals’s democratic rights. I wish to ensure that democracy ought to proceed on this nation,” Hasina stated in a press convention in Dhaka on Saturday.
She drew comparisons between nations having democratic governments and people with navy dictatorships, asserting that growth was an enormous issue.
“With out democracy, we can not do any growth. Bangladesh has achieved this from 2009 to 2023 as we’re a secure democracy. Should you see different nations, particularly these that are navy dictatorships, they may not do any growth,” she stated.
Hasina on Sunday solid her vote at Metropolis School in Dhaka and expressed hope that individuals would vote for her get together, Awami League, in giant numbers.
She hit out on the opposition get together, the Bangladesh Nationalist Get together (BNP), for boycotting the overall election, saying it didn’t imagine in democracy. She additionally known as the BNP a “terror get together”.
“The BNP doesn’t imagine in democracy that’s the reason they’ve resorted to violence to mar the ballot course of. The individuals of Bangladesh have rejected them,” she stated.
“The BNP is a terror get together. The get together was shaped by means of a navy coup, so they’re anti-democracy. Since they haven’t received the chance this time, they’re attempting to oppose the elections,” she stated.
Led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, the BNP has boycotted the elections after the Awami League refused to cede energy to a caretaker authorities to conduct the polls.
“To whom ought to I show the credibility of those elections? To a terrorist get together? My accountability is to the individuals,” Hasina stated.
She additionally stated that the polling course of was occurring easily until now and hoped that the election will probably be truthful and peaceable.
“I urge the individuals to come back out in giant numbers to take ahead the democratic course of in Bangladesh,” Hasina additional stated.
The outcomes of Sunday’s common election are due on Monday.
The 76-year-old chief, in energy since 2009, is poised to win a fourth straight five-year time period and fifth general, in a high-stakes election that the Opposition has boycotted and known as it a “sham”, accusing the Awami League of rigging and unfair voting practices. Hasina and her get together have repeatedly junked the Opposition’s allegations.
In her final 15 years in energy, Hasina has been credited with turning across the financial system and the garment business.
However critics have additionally accused her of authoritarianism, human rights violations, crackdowns on free speech and suppression of dissent, with a few of them being jailed.
