Bangladesh's Tarique Rahman pledges to work for democracy after landslide victory in election

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DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s incoming leader said Saturday that he would work to build a more democratic country, overcoming challenges related to weak institutions after his party secured an election victory.

Tarique Rahman's Bangladesh Nationalist Party won a majority in Thursday’s election in the 350-member Parliament. An 11-member alliance led by the Jamaat-e-Islami party, the country’s largest Islamist party, is poised to form the opposition.

It was the first election since the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a mass uprising in 2024. An interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus oversaw the largely peaceful election. The voting marked a significant political shift in the South Asian nation of more than 170 million people.

The new government is expected to take the oath in days.

In his first press meeting in the capital, Dhaka, Rahman said that his priorities would be to improve law and order and handle a fragile economy.

“We are about to begin our journey in a situation marked by a fragile economy left behind by the authoritarian regime, weakened constitutional and statutory institutions, and a deteriorating law and order situation,” he told reporters.

Rahman, son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who died in December, also urged unity, promising that he would not undermine the country.

“To ensure that no evil force can reestablish autocracy in the country, and to ensure that the nation is not turned into a subservient state, we must remain united and uphold the will of the people,” he said.

The BNP is one of the country’s longstanding political forces alongside Hasina’s now-banned Awami League party. Hasina has been accused of increasingly becoming authoritarian during her 15-year rule. In recent years, the BNP refused to take part in the election under Hasina. She has been in exile in India since her ouster and has been convicted of crimes against humanity involving hundreds of deaths during the weekslong uprising.