Dhaka, February 15 The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which won a two-thirds majority in the recent general elections, received nearly 50 per cent of the votes, while its former ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, secured 31.76 per cent, according to the Election Commission on Sunday.
An EC spokesman said that independent candidates collectively won 5.79 per cent of the votes, while "other political parties lagged far behind."
According to the EC, the BNP, led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia's son Tarique Rahman, secured 49.97 per cent of the votes, winning 209 out of 297 seats.
The right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami, which opposed the country's 1971 independence from Pakistan, emerged as the main opposition party, registering its best ever performance, winning 68 seats.
The BNP alliance won 212 seats compared to 77 for the Jamaat alliance.
The National Citizen Party, formed by Students Against Discrimination, which led the mass protests against ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, received 3.05 per cent of the votes, winning just six seats.
An interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus disbanded Hasina's Awami League last year, disqualifying it from the election race, thus changing the country's traditional election landscape.
The NCP was followed by Islami Andolan Bangladesh, which received 2.70 per cent, and Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis, which received 2.09 per cent.
The EC earlier said that 59.44 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in the election.
The newly-elected Members of Parliament of Bangladesh are scheduled to take oath on Tuesday morning, followed by the swearing-in ceremony of the cabinet in the evening, local media reported.
