Sheikh Hasina takes oath for historic 4th term in office

Dhaka, Jan 10 (IANS) Following the ruling Awami League's (AL) win in the January 7 Bangladesh general elections, incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took the oath of office on Wednesday for her historic fourth-consecutive term.

The oath to Hasina and other newly-elected MPs was administered by Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, reports Xinhua news agency.

Apart from this, independent MPs-elect and newly-elected legislators were also sworn in at the ceremony.

According to a gazette notification published by the Election Commission on Tuesday, the ruling AL won 223 out of 298 seats in the polls conducted on Sunday, more than enough for her party to form a straight fourth five-year term government since January 2009 after running the country from 1996-2001.

Sheikh Hasina is officially the longest-serving leader in Bangladesh's history.

The result showed that independent candidates won 61 seats while the Jatiya Party bagged 11 seats and other AL allies got two seats.

Apart from this, another political group the Bangladesh Kalyan Party secured one seat.

Voter turnout was recorded at 41.8 per cent.

The party-led alliance bagged a landslide win with 225 seats.

The AL will form its new cabinet on Thursday, a senior Cabinet Division official told Xinhua news agency.

Sunday's elections were held amid mass violence and arrests of opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leaders and supporters.

The BNP boycotted the polls after the AL rejected their demands for an independent caretaker government to preside over the elections.

The opposition party had also called on people to not cast their votes.

According to the Human Rights Watch (HRW), nearly 10,000 activists were arrested after an opposition rally on October 28, 2023 turned violent, resulting in the deaths of at least 16 people and injuring more than 5,500, reports the BBC.

It accused the government of "filling prisons with the ruling AL's political opponents".

The AL has however, denied these accusations.