Bangladesh Votes Thursday in 13th General Election
Authorities declared a three-day public holiday commencing February 10 to facilitate the nationwide ballot.
Mass migration toward home districts has intensified as tens of thousands of workers scramble to reach their registered voting locations ahead of stringent transportation restrictions slated for polling day.
Tabish Mahdi, a Dhaka-based worker registered in his native northern Rangpur district village, described failed attempts to secure bus passage.
"It seems people are so enthusiastic about this election as they couldn't vote in the past election under the Sheikh Hasina regime, particularly like me," he told media.
The voter exodus has triggered severe congestion on major arteries linking Dhaka to provincial regions, a local broadcaster reported.
Approximately 30 million first-time voters—representing one-quarter of the 120.7 million eligible electorate—spearheaded the July-August 2024 protests and now seek sweeping political and bureaucratic transformation.
An international monitoring contingent of roughly 330 observers from Türkiye, the US, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Jordan, Iran, Georgia, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and South Africa, alongside the EU, Commonwealth, and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), will scrutinize proceedings.
Nearly 2,000 candidates from over 50 political organizations plus independents are battling for 300 parliamentary positions. A simultaneous referendum on governmental reforms will accompany the general election.
Interim leader Muhammad Yunus received a seven-member Turkish observer delegation Tuesday, following Monday's meeting with a 23-member Commonwealth Observer Group.
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