Bangladesh nationalists celebrate landslide win

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) celebrated a landslide victory on Friday in the first elections held since a deadly 2024 uprising, with leader Tarique Rahman to become prime minister.
Election Commission figures said the BNP alliance had won 212 seats, compared with 77 for the Jamaat-e-Islami alliance — which said earlier it had 'serious questions about the integrity of the results process'.
Rahman said two days before polling he was 'confident' that his party would regain power in the South Asian nation of 170 million people.
Hasina's Awami League party was barred from taking part.
The US embassy congratulated Rahman and the BNP for a 'historic victory', while neighbouring India praised Rahman's 'decisive win' in a significant step after recent rocky relations with Bangladesh.
The vote passed largely peacefully and the country has been reported to have been calm since polling day.
Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman, 67, had mounted a disciplined grassroots campaign on a platform of justice and ending corruption.
His party said it was 'not satisfied with the process surrounding the election results', claiming it had logged 'repeated inconsistencies and fabrications in unofficial result announcements', but without giving further details.
The Election Commission said turnout was 59 per cent across 299 constituencies out of 300 in which voting took place.
Another 50 seats in parliament reserved for women will be named from party lists.
Senior BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi claimed a resounding win, calling for followers to give thanks in prayer rather than celebrate on the streets.
'There will be no victory rally despite the BNP's sweeping victory', Rizvi said in a statement.