Introduction Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government was re-elected to power for the fourth consecutive time at the 12 th parliamentary election in January 2024. PM Hasina returned to power amid US pressures to influence the elections through multiple means, including imposing visa restrictions on Bangladeshi citizens allegedly involved in compromising the polls; [1] not inviting Bangladesh to the Democracy Summits; [2] US Ambassador to Bangladesh, Peter Haas’s meeting with the families of the victims of ‘enforced displacements’, including the BNP leader, Sajedul Islam Sumon; [3] and the imposition of sanctions on officials of Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion for reported human rights abuses. [4] Hasina’s victory may be a testament to the government’s deft handling of global-power politics. At the same time, however, the boycott of the polls by the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), [5] and the low 40 percent voter turnout on election day, [6] raise serious questions about the country’s domestic politics and the resilience of successive leadership.
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