Hasina, cabinet to be sworn in after deadly Bangladesh polls

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her new cabinet are set to be sworn in today after Bangladesh's controversial polls marred by deadly clashes, a low turnout and a boycott by opposition parties.
Hasina's Awami League clinched a landslide victory in the parliamentary election on January 5, bagging 231 seats in the face of a boycott of the polls by the BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance.
The new cabinet is expected to have 30 members but Hasina is likely to drop several ministers of the outgoing government for poor performance or corruption, according to reports.
On January 9, 66-year-old Hasina was unanimously elected as leader of the Awami League Parliamentary Party.

At least 21 people were killed in poll-related violence during the "one-sided" elections. Most voters had preferred to stay home during the January 5 polls in 147 out of 300 constituencies in 59 districts.
Awami League won 231 seats, of which 127 seats were uncontested, giving it a clear three-fourths majority in the country's 10th parliament.
The 18-party alliance led by former premier Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) boycotted the polls after her arch-rival Hasina rejected the opposition's demand for a neutral caretaker regime for election oversight.