Prime minister wins overwhelming majority in Bangladesh as opposition boycotts vote

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina shows her ballot paper as she casts her vote in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024. Polls have opened in Bangladesh as voters began casting their ballots in an election fraught with violence and a boycott from the main opposition party. (Altaf Qadri/AP)

DHAKA — Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has won an overwhelming majority in Bangladesh's parliamentary election after a campaign fraught with violence and a boycott from the main opposition party, giving her and her Awami League a fourth consecutive term.

While the Election Commission has been slow to announce the results of Sunday's election, TV stations with networks of journalists across the country reported that the Awami League won 216 seats out of 299. Independent candidates took 52, while the Jatiya Party, the third largest in the country, took 11 seats. The results for the rest of the constituencies were still coming in late on Sunday night.