LyrArc Article Gist
The Bangladesh election resulting in a clean election from the comments of independent observers, and the election of the secular party Awami League run by the daughter of Mujibur Rehman, who led the movement that founded Bangladesh. The Awami League won a sweeping majority of 230 seats in an election with a 70% turnout with a lot of younger voters voting for the first or the second time. For one third of the voters this was their first election, and for another 23% this was their second election after the one in 2001. And that they swept aside the opposition BNP which had allied with Islamist parties and with the main Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami able to win only 2 seats, is a sign that there is a shift in opinion in Bangladesh among the younger voters. THe main concern of voters is the price of food, as 45% of the 150 million Bangladeshis live on less than a dollar a day. The lower prices of fuel and commodities and lower inflation as a result of the global economic crisis and the good rice harvest in Bangladesh improves things for these people even as the global crisis reduces growth rate from 6.2% in 2008.