Who is popular today?

An autocratic crackdown saw the main opposition party boycott the poll, rendering the victory hollow for the current prime ministerSheikh Hasina Wazed has brought the best of times and the worst of times to Bangladesh. In her 15 years of consecutive rule as prime minister, extreme poverty rates have halved and per-capita GDP has grown by more than 300%. This impressive performance has been undermined by the emergence of a one‑party state, a process accelerated by anti‑government protests against escalating prices last year. Human Rights Watch warned in November that opposition leaders and supporters were being jailed, and even killed, ahead of the general elections that took place last weekend.With the main opposition party – the Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP) – boycotting the poll, Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party swept back into power. It was a hollow victory as just four in 10 voters turned out. Democracy lost out at the beginning of the year when 80 nations are scheduled to go to the polls. The election was neither free nor fair, as London and Washington pointed out. Yet Dhaka has friends in both India and China, which welcomed Sheikh Hasina’s win. Continue reading...