ISAS Briefs

The Awami-League led Government of Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh received a new lease of life in the elections of 5 January 2014. Opinion polls were predicting a sweep by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), but the latter boycotted the elections, somewhat inexplicably, on the argument that these could not be held „freely and fairly‟ under an incumbent Awami League-led coalition. Unsurprisingly, Hasina‟s Awami League won by a walk-over. Consequently, the BNP lost its chance of being either in government or in opposition, a double whammy. Nor has its threats to bring the Hasina Government down from the streets come to pass, since somewhat exhausted from the excitement of last year‟s political turmoil, the weary Bangladeshi, who tends to be politically hyperactive, seems to have chosen to divert attention to other aspects of life. So Hasina, who began rather tentatively, gradually has been able to consolidate her position and that of her party. Barring unforeseen events, she seems set to be there for the long haul.