Dhaka: Tarique Rahman, who lived in London in self-exile for 17 years, has emerged as the new face of Bangladesh, with the party founded by his father set to return to power after a 20-year gap.
The 60-year-old leader’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has bagged 209 out of 297 seats, while right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami, known to be close to Pakistan, secured 68 seats. The Awami League party of Hasina was barred from contesting the elections, which recorded 59.44 per cent voter turnout.
The result is a major turnaround for the BNP, long targeted under the 15-year rule of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government which collapsed following nationwide student-led protests in August 2024.
The BNP was founded by Rahman’s father Ziaur Rahman, a military ruler turned politician. The party was led by his mother Khaleda Zia for nearly four decades after the assassination of President Ziaur Rahman in 1981.
