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A landmark election in Bangladesh ended years of disputed polls, and now the winners face strain to deal with corruption and a battered economic system.
EMILY KWONG, HOST:
Bangladesh held what observers say is the nation’s first honest election in almost twenty years. The Bangladesh Nationalist Occasion emerged with a landslide victory, adopted by the Islamist Occasion Jamaat that garnered almost a 3rd of the vote. NPR’s Diaa Hadid stories from the capital Dhaka.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Amid sirens, Mohammad Mian sells scorching tea on the Sadarghat Terminal, the place boats ferry folks round this nation ribboned with rivers.
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HADID: Mian says when ousted chief Sheikh Hasina was in cost, her thugs used to extort the equal of 80 cents from him day by day right here. It damage. He solely makes round $4 a day.
MOHAMMAD MIAN: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: So he was delighted when Sheikh Hasina fled Bangladesh. He was extra delighted when he voted on Thursday in elections marked largely by goodwill, in distinction to the violence that many had feared.
MIAN: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: He says, it was calm and peaceable, and the folks on the polling heart informed me, vote for whoever you need. Now he desires the following authorities to finish corruption. And that is simply one of many many expectations on the following prime minister, Tarique Rahman, chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Occasion, which received greater than a two-thirds majority.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: Sixty-year-old Rahman presents as a somber determine. He provided his first public feedback on Saturday in a ballroom full of get together devoted and journalists.
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TARIQUE RAHMAN: (Non-English language spoken).
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RAHMAN: This victory belongs to Bangladesh.
HADID: He outlined the challenges dealing with Bangladesh – a fragile economic system, hollowed-out establishments, unraveling safety. There’s one other problem, too.
MASUM BILLAH: He has by no means maintain a public publish in Bangladesh earlier than.
HADID: Masum Billah is a author and analyst. He says Tarique Rahman is essentially untested as a result of he solely returned to Bangladesh in December after 17 years in exile. However he enjoys monumental goodwill. The Bangladesh Nationalist Occasion was based by his father, Ziaur Rahman, one of many males who led Bangladesh to liberation. After his father was assassinated, his mom, Khaleda Zia, served as prime minister twice. Nonetheless, Masum Billah says, Rahman will solely have a brief grace interval.
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HADID: Again on the Sadarghat terminal, Pradeep Shankar is ready for his ferry with an oxygen cylinder by his aspect. It is for his father, who has an ailing coronary heart and lungs.
PRADEEP SHANKAR: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: He says, the federal government wants to supply higher well being care. He says, the sector is so corrupt. Just a few ft away, Ruppam ties plastic bottles with a wire to hold. She’s solely acquired one identify, and she or he guesses she’s 45. She makes about $2.40 a day, promoting bottles to recyclers.
RUPPAM: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: She says she’s blind in a single eye and dropping imaginative and prescient within the different.
RUPPAM: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: She desires the federal government to assist her open slightly tobacco retailer, a job that is a bit simpler. Ready within the wings is the Islamist get together often called Jamaat. That is analyst Masum Billah once more.
BILLAH: How a lot vote they really acquired is unprecedented.
HADID: They received a couple of third of the vote. Some voters favored their guarantees to scrub up corruption. Different voters informed NPR they hoped Islamists would strain girls to cowl their hair and even their faces. And if Bangladeshis bitter on Rahman and the Bangladesh Nationalist Occasion, the fortunes of the Islamists could enhance much more. Diaa Hadid, NPR Information, Dhaka.
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