After an election campaign and day full of violence, the incumbent prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina (71), is heading for a strong victory. The biggest Bangladeshi television channel Channel 24 reported this shortly after the closing of the polling stations. The official result is expected.
The victory could not escape her; the main rival of the 'iron lady' Hasina, Khaleda Zia, (73), is in the cell. After a conviction for corruption, but according to Khaleda herself she is there as a political prisoner. It was forbidden to take part in the elections.
Once a champion of democracy and civil rights, Hasina has turned out to be an autocratic leader. Members of opposition parties were imprisoned under her rule; an Islamist party was banned and freedom of the press restricted. On the eve of the elections, her government blocked the website of the main opposition party and imposed restrictions on the use of the Internet by the population.
Hasina won the elections in 1996. Under her leadership, the economy contracted in one of the most densely populated countries in the world (it currently has more than 170 million inhabitants, the majority of whom are Muslim). In the 2001 elections it was again her rival Khaleda who won. There followed a turbulent political period, in which both their parties did not grant each other the light in the eyes. In 2004, Hasina was slightly wounded by a grenade during a political manifestation. In 2007, an interim government with military support called the state of emergency. Both Hasina and Khaleda had to go into the cell.
After the lifting of the state of emergency in 2008, elections were held that were again won by Hasina. She remained prime minister in 2014 after elections boycotted by the opposition under the leadership of Khaleda.
In her 10-year reign she received international praise for the reception of more than half a million Rohingya refugees from neighboring Myanmar. She herself is especially proud of economic growth, which was almost 8 percent last year. By far the most important export product is clothing, which is mostly manufactured by girls and women under primitive conditions and against low wages.
What is criticized by critics at home and abroad is that it actually leads to a one-party state because almost every opposition is oppressed. According to Hasina's son Wazed, she is honored to be considered an authoritarian leader in the West.
The victory could not escape her; the main rival of the 'iron lady' Hasina, Khaleda Zia, (73), is in the cell. After a conviction for corruption, but according to Khaleda herself she is there as a political prisoner. It was forbidden to take part in the elections.
Once a champion of democracy and civil rights, Hasina has turned out to be an autocratic leader. Members of opposition parties were imprisoned under her rule; an Islamist party was banned and freedom of the press restricted. On the eve of the elections, her government blocked the website of the main opposition party and imposed restrictions on the use of the Internet by the population.
Hasina won the elections in 1996. Under her leadership, the economy contracted in one of the most densely populated countries in the world (it currently has more than 170 million inhabitants, the majority of whom are Muslim). In the 2001 elections it was again her rival Khaleda who won. There followed a turbulent political period, in which both their parties did not grant each other the light in the eyes. In 2004, Hasina was slightly wounded by a grenade during a political manifestation. In 2007, an interim government with military support called the state of emergency. Both Hasina and Khaleda had to go into the cell.
After the lifting of the state of emergency in 2008, elections were held that were again won by Hasina. She remained prime minister in 2014 after elections boycotted by the opposition under the leadership of Khaleda.
In her 10-year reign she received international praise for the reception of more than half a million Rohingya refugees from neighboring Myanmar. She herself is especially proud of economic growth, which was almost 8 percent last year. By far the most important export product is clothing, which is mostly manufactured by girls and women under primitive conditions and against low wages.
What is criticized by critics at home and abroad is that it actually leads to a one-party state because almost every opposition is oppressed. According to Hasina's son Wazed, she is honored to be considered an authoritarian leader in the West.
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