Name: Bangladesh elections: When will we see the first results? | DW News
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In Bangladesh, the polls have closed in a historic election in what is being seen as a test for democracy after years of authoritarian rule.

Bangladesh has completed its first election since student led protests ousted former leader Sheikh Hasina.

Also coming up, NATO defense ministers discussing the new Arctic sentry mission in Brussels.

The alliance's move follows US pressure to combat potential threats from Russia and China.

It's good to have you with us on this Thursday.

Polls have now closed in Bangladesh's first national election since the uprising that ended Sheikh Hasina's 15 year rule.

More than 127 million people were eligible to vote.

With Hina's Awami League now banned, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by Tariq Rahman entered the race as the front runner.

The BNP is one of the country's two major political forces.

It is pitching itself as a nationalist conservative alternative.

Its main Challenger is an 11 party alliance which is led by the Islamist Jamati Islami headed by Shafika Rahman of Security is tight nationwide with nearly 1 million personnel deployed under or after unrest broke out at several polling stations across the country.

Let's go now to our correspondent Namisha Jaiswal.

She is in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka for us.

Namisha, I know that polls have now closed.

What do we know so far about how the voting went, particularly turnout?

Well, Brent, turnout is that big question because that would really tell us how legitimate or how even interesting voters have found this vote when it comes to the candidates who are in the running.

But the latest figures as as of after closing, which happened 30 minutes ago, have not really been provided yet.

The last numbers we have are from 2pm that's about two and a half hours before polls closed and that is at about 48%.

But this is not particularly surprising because we've been out and about at polling stations in Dhaka in the morning.

But when we asked different polling officers how far the turnout has come along as of 3:00pm, as of 330, it looks like it was still at about 30, 35%.

But what's interesting here is that how fair this vote is is the other question that's really going to come up.

That have been reports of instances of violence.

There's even an allegation that a BNP person might have been killed.

There's also allegations of clashes where different leading parties have been involved.

And right now, as of a few minutes ago, the head of the 11 party alliance, Jamaat has said, has gone to the election commission alleging widespread irregularities, including fake voters.

Now, both leading parties have said that they think they will accept a vote that is free and fair unless something goes really wrong.

And that caveat is what might spell out how easily this result can be declared.

Yeah, and with all of that in mind, I know you've been talking to voters.

It's really interesting, Brent, because the people we actually meet, of course, are people who have come out to vote.

And that low water turnout means that we have not been able to speak to the people who are skeptical of this election.

We were just speaking to the candidate at this constituency.

He said he's definitely not going to win, but

he thinks 30% of people did not come out because they are Obama League supporters from Sheikh Hasina's government.

And they think that they do not want to vote because their party is not on the ballot.

But when it comes to the people we spoke to, there was a palpable air of excitement.

Several people told us that even though they've been eligible to vote for the last few elections, every time they went to cast their vote, it was already cast.

This is a clear allegation of vote rigging that has come up in the last three elections.

So they seemed really excited that this was the first free and fair election.

And when we spoke to polling officers from each party that are at these booths too, they said that they think it's been quite peaceful and free and fair here in Dhaka and when it comes to what voters really want, we asked them what they hope for from the next government and let's listen into their answers.

You know, we need change in this country because we've seen what the, you know, previous governments did.

So we want someone new to come and lead the country, you know, what do you mean by that?

You know, wherever we go, for any work, especially government work, we have to pay a lot of money.

Less corrupted Bangladesh is better Bangladesh.

My hope for today's election is a better Bangladesh, a more honest, less corrupted Bangladesh.

I want that they look after the general public.

There should be no difference between the poor people and the rich people.

Everybody should be treated at the same level.

So now we are looking for the five fundamental rights.

We want to ensure Everybody we hear right there, there is so much on the line in this election, so many concerns.

Well, what comes next for Bangladesh will really be decided by who actually wins and what direction they want to take.

But that might be a bit too soon to talk about that right now, Grant, because what we really want to find out is what is the turnout number?

Now, behind me is a polling booth where there have been 10 different polling centers around here.

And we just saw ballot papers being carried from the counting, from the ballot casting space to the counting space.

So we know that right now the next hours counting will happen.

Maybe by in a few hours, we already might know who's leading.

And there is a prediction from analysts here that whoever's falling behind is more likely to raise allegations of some kind of war trigging or war tampering.

Yeah, we'll have to see what happens when the numbers are in.

The Misha Jadja force in Dhaka in Bangladesh.

At NATO, they are talking a lot these days about the Arctic.

Defense ministers are meeting in Brussels.

And topping their agenda, NATO's new mission, known as Arctic Sentry.

The NATO chief, Mark Ruta, he is chairing today's talks as the alliance puts plans in place to boost its military presence in the far north.

The deployment is an effort to smooth over a recent rift between the US and other NATO allies.

A rift over Donald Trump's plans to annex Greenland.

The US Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, he will not be at today's meeting.

He's being represented by Under Secretary Elbridge Colby.

Hegseth did not provide a reason for his absence.

Well, speaking as he arrived for the meeting in Brussels, Mark Rutted said this.

What you see overall is a picture of Canada and Europe stepping up, spending billions more on defence, ramping up the defense industrial base, keeping Ukraine strong.

We will take stock today and then chart out the course towards our summit.

All right, let's go now to Terry Schultz.

She is at NATO headquarters for us in Brussels.

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Bangladesh elections: When will we see the first results? | DW News

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