Bangladesh Polls: Campaign Ends as Voters Weigh Pledges

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Electioneering for Bangladesh’s 13th parliamentary election formally ended on Tuesday morning, drawing the curtain on weeks of intense campaigning as political parties made their final appeals to voters ahead of the February 12 polls.

Campaign restrictions came into force at 7:30am under the electoral code of conduct, which bars all forms of canvassing during the final 48 hours before voting. Official campaigning had begun on January 22, a day after election symbols were allocated.

Voting will take place on Thursday from 7:30am to 4:30pm without a break. The election will be held in 299 constituencies, as voting in Sherpur-3 was cancelled following the death of a Jamaat-e-Islami candidate. Balloting will be conducted using transparent ballot boxes and ballot papers.

Alongside the parliamentary election, a referendum on the July National Charter (Constitutional Reform) Implementation Order will also be held the same day.

Movement Restrictions

To ensure a smooth voting process, restrictions on vehicular movement have been imposed nationwide. Motorcycles are barred from midnight on February 10 to midnight on February 13, while trucks, microbuses, taxi-cabs and motorcycles will be banned for 24 hours on election day. Movement of vessels will also remain suspended on polling day.

Candidates and their supporters are prohibited from setting up camps or conducting campaigns within 400 yards of polling stations. The use of vehicles to transport voters on polling day is also not allowed.

Security Deployment

Nearly one million members of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies have been deployed across the country from February 8 to maintain law and order and enforce the electoral code of conduct. More than 1,050 executive magistrates are also on duty through February 14.

Security personnel include members of the army, navy, air force, police, BGB, Coast Guard, RAB, Ansar and VDP, among others. Depending on risk assessments, between 16 and 18 security personnel will be stationed at each polling centre, with additional forces deployed in vulnerable and remote areas.

Postal Voting

More than one million voters have already cast their ballots through a newly introduced IT-supported hybrid postal voting system. The system allows expatriate Bangladeshis in over 120 countries, as well as government officials working outside their constituencies, polling staff and individuals in legal custody, to vote by post.

As of Monday evening, over 1.03 million postal ballots had been cast. In total, more than 1.52 million voters were registered under out-of-country and in-country postal voting programmes.

A total of 127.3 million voters are eligible to vote in the 299 constituencies, including male, female and third-gender voters. Nearly 800,000 polling officials will be engaged at more than 42,600 polling stations, while a similar number of security personnel will safeguard the voting process.

Around 50,000 domestic observers and nearly 500 foreign observers are expected to monitor the election.