The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) won a landslide victory with more than a two-thirds majority in the 13th general elections held on Thursday, February 12, enabling the BNP-led alliance to form the next government.

Following the decisive mandate, BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman is set to assume office as Prime Minister for the first time.

The Election Commission (EC) released unofficial results for 297 out of 299 parliamentary constituencies where voting took place, describing the polls as free and fair. The results for two constituencies, Chattogram-2 and Chattogram-4, were postponed. In Sherpur-3, voting was suspended due to the death of a candidate from Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (Jamaat).

According to the unofficial tally, BNP secured 209 seats independently. Its alliance partners—Gano Odhikar Parishad, Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) and Gano Sanghati Andalon—won one seat each.

Jamaat obtained 68 seats, becoming the principal opposition party. Among its allies, the National Citizen Party (NCP) captured six seats, Bangladesh Khilafat Majlis won two and Khelafat Majlish secured one.

Islami Andolon Bangladesh won one seat, while independent candidates were elected in seven constituencies.

The EC reported a voter turnout of 59.44% in the parliamentary election, while turnout in the referendum stood at 60.26%. The referendum recorded 4,80,74,429 votes in favour (‘Yes’) and 2,25,65,627 votes against (‘No’).

Foreign observers and independent election monitoring bodies stated that the polls were conducted in a free, fair and peaceful manner in line with international standards.

Polling commenced at 7:30 am across 42,779 centres in 299 constituencies nationwide.

A total of 12,77,11,793 registered voters were eligible to cast ballots, comprising 6,48,25,361 men, 6,28,85,200 women and 1,232 voters from the third gender.

Fifty political parties participated in the elections, fielding 2,028 candidates, including 273 independents. BNP nominated 291 candidates, the highest among all parties.

A total of 83 women contested the election, but only seven were elected, representing an 8.4% success rate. Overall, women account for only 2.36% of the declared results for the 297 parliament seats. Among the elected women, six are BNP-nominated candidates, while another contested as an independent candidate. The winning female candidates are Afroza Khan Rita, Ishrat Sultana Elen Bhutto, Tahsina Rushdir Luna, Shama Obaid, Nayab Yusuf Kamal, Farzana Sharmin Putul and Barrister Rumin Farhana .

Precisely 151 elected candidates, which amount to more than half of the winners, have never served in parliament before. This group of newcomers includes topmost party leaders such as BNP’s chairman Tarique Rahman, Jamaat-e-Islami’s chief Shafiqur Rahman, National Citizen Party (NCP)’s convener Nahid Islam, Ganosamhati Andolon’s chief co-ordinator Zonayed Saki, and Gono Odhikar Parishad’s president Nurul Haque Nur.

The EC stated that approximately 800,000 officials—excluding members of the security and law enforcement agencies—were deployed for election duties. These included 69 returning officers, 598 assistant returning officers, 42,779 presiding officers, 247,482 assistant presiding officers and 4,95,964 polling officers. Additionally, around 15,000 officials handled postal voting responsibilities.

Security arrangements included 103,000 army personnel, 8,500 navy sailors and airmen, 37,453 members of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and 3,585 members of the Coast Guard.

Police deployment totalled 187,603 personnel, while 9,349 members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) were on duty. The largest contingent came from Ansar, with 5,67,868 members assigned to election responsibilities.

Monitoring of the election was carried out by 55,454 observers from 81 local organizations, alongside 394 foreign observers. Nearly 200 foreign journalists travelled to Bangladesh to cover the election and the referendum.

Among the international observers, 80 represented various international organizations, while the remainder were from different countries, including independent European observers.

Meanwhile, the United States, United Kingdom, China, India and Pakistan extended congratulations to BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman on the party’s historic landslide victory in the 13th National Parliament Election.