Bangladesh's Prime Minister and Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina on Monday said leadership vacuum was the main reason for the debacle of opposition alliance, comprising jailed ex-premier Khaleda Zia's BNP and some small parties, in the just-concluded general elections in the country.
The Awami League-led Grand Alliance won 288 seats in the 300-member Parliament. The ruling alliance, which got nearly 82 per cent of the total votes polled, bettered its previous best performance of 2008 when it bagged 263 seats.
The opposition Jatiya Oikya Front (National Unity Front) with BNP as its key ally secured seven seats with over 15 per cent of the votes, while others won three seats.
The National Unity Front (NUF) led by prominent lawyer Dr Kamal Hossain is a coalition of parties, including BNP, Gono Forum, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD, Nagorik Oikya and Krishak Sramik Janata League.
"It was a credible and transparent election...but (opposition) BNP's debacle in the polls was caused by their own faults and weakness...People did not know who the opposition leader was...," Hasina told foreign journalists and poll observers at her official Ganobhaban residence here.
Also Read
Leadership vacuum in the opposition was their prime weakness, she said, adding that Zia's "fugitive son and acting BNP chief Tarique Rahman's absence also exposed the party to further disarray.
Hasina's arch-rival Zia, who is serving a 17-year sentence for corruption, was barred from contesting the polls.
Rahman is living in London in self exile to evade a life imprisonment for masterminding a deadly 2004 grenade attack on a political rally in which 24 people were killed and over 300 injured. Zia was prime minister at that time.
The target of the attack, then-opposition leader Hasina, escaped death but suffered hearing loss.
Hasina alleged the opposition alliance fielded four to five candidates in every constituency, confusing the voters about the actual BNP candidate.
She claimed people wanted "continuity" of her government and so they "overwhelmingly" voted for her party.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
