Hasina’s triumph-After the Awami League landslide, she must repair Bangladesh’s bitter political divisions

• Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s party was always going to win parliamentary election.
• She remains immensely popular, her government sought a fresh mandate with a formidable record of economic growth and social progress and her party, the Awami League, set the agenda for the election and dominated the campaign.
• Still, the scale of the victory would have taken even her supporters by surprise.
• However, the Election Monitoring Forum and the SAARC Human Rights Foundation, which includes both local and international observers, said in its preliminary evaluation that the election was “much freer and fairer” than previous ones.
• The challenge before Ms. Hasina is daunting.
• The Election Commission should conduct a fair investigation into allegations of rigging to restore faith in the poll process.
• Ms. Hasina should reach out to the Opposition.
• Hasina’s otherwise impressive record has been marred by her government’s authoritarian character.
• The victory is a chance for Ms. Hasina to mend her ways, to be more inclusive and run a government that respects the rule of law, the basic rights of citizens and institutional freedom.
• For India, Ms. Hasina’s victory is good news. New Delhi and Dhaka have deepened economic, security and strategic ties under her leadership.
• This should continue, no matter what the general election outcome in India in 2019.

The Hindu