All posts tagged: ZInspired

Bangladesh Votes in World’s First Gen Z-Inspired Election

Bangladesh Votes in World’s First Gen Z-Inspired Election

By Krishna N. Das and Tora Agarwala DHAKA, Feb 9 (Reuters) – For years under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s ‌opposition ​had little presence on the streets during elections, either boycotting ‌polls or being sidelined by mass arrests of senior leaders. Now, ahead of Thursday’s vote, the roles have reversed. Hasina’s Awami League is banned, but ​many young people who helped oust her government in a 2024 uprising say the upcoming vote will be the Muslim-majority nation’s first competitive election since 2009, when she began a 15-year-rule. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is widely expected ‍to win, although a coalition led by the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami ​is putting up a strong challenge. A new party driven by Gen-Z activists under the age of 30 has aligned with Jamaat after failing to translate its anti-Hasina street mobilisation into an electoral base. BNP chief Tarique ​Rahman told Reuters his ⁠party, which is contesting 292 of the 300 parliamentary seats at stake, was confident of winning “enough to form a government”. Analysts say a decisive result in the …