00:00Polls have opened in Bangladesh, where people will have their say in a crucial national election.
00:06These are live pictures from a polling station in the capital, Dhaka.
00:11Nearly 127 million eligible voters will cast their ballot in what's being seen as a key test of the country's
00:18return to democracy.
00:20It's the first poll since mass protests in 2024 toppled longtime leader Sheikh Kassina.
00:25The two main contenders are Jamaat-e-Islami and the Bangladesh National Party.
00:31Corruption, unemployment and economic development are key issues for voters.
00:36Bangladesh faces several issues, from corruption and pollution to the cost of living.
00:41Jonah Hull takes a look at some of the challenges and expectations in Dhaka.
00:51The noise, the dizzying movement, a thick blanket with pollution you can feel and almost taste.
00:59The Bangladeshi capital is regularly ranked one of the least livable cities on earth.
01:04It's also one of the fastest growing and most overcrowded.
01:08And there aren't enough houses or jobs, water or sanitation for all these people.
01:14Inflation is high, poverty is everywhere.
01:16If you were going to look at priorities for the next government, you'd have to start right here.
01:22Then there's corruption.
01:24It's a huge problem here, both big scale and small.
01:27From the bribes people pay for basic services to the officials who rely on kickbacks to make a living.
01:32Take these rickshaw drivers, thousands of them, who have to pay bribes to the police just to stay on the
01:38road.
01:38And speaking of roads, there's this new overhead highway built amid accusations of corruption, of course.
01:46It means you could skip the congestion below, provided you can afford the toll fee, which most people can't.
01:53And here's perhaps the biggest symbol of corruption in Bangladesh, the Padma Bridge just outside the capital.
01:59Allegations of extortion and bribery involving senior officials meant the World Bank withdrew a billion dollars in funding for this
02:07project
02:07so that it had to be completed using taxpayers' money.
02:11What else do people want?
02:13Well, consistently, you hear the word stability.
02:17They talk about the breakdown of law and order, about mob violence and violence particularly against women
02:23since the student uprising of 2024 that ousted the previous government.
02:27On this spot, just two months ago, youth activist Osman Hadi was killed by gunmen said to have fled to
02:34India
02:34where former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is now living in exile.
02:38His killing sparked another round of protests and violence with attacks on diplomatic buildings and newspaper offices.
02:46It's the kind of unrest many fear could erupt at any time as the country goes to the polls
02:50hoping an elected government can sort things out.
02:54Jonah Hull, Al Jazeera, Dhaka.
02:57All right, let's go live now to Jonah who joins us from a polling station in Dhaka.
03:01Jonah, it's been a rough and tumble few years for Bangladesh's democracy.
03:04So I guess what sense do you have of people's trust in this electoral process?
03:14Well, you know, on the evidence of the scenes around me here and at other polling stations
03:19we've passed this morning, quite a lot of hope, certainly, and a certain degree of trust people out.
03:25Many of them, many young people voting for the very first time because the last two or three elections in
03:29this country
03:30weren't sort of worth bothering to turn out for for many people who didn't have a party to vote for.
03:35They were one-party election contests.
03:38Let's take a look inside as you look at this queue of voters waiting to take part.
03:43127 million registered voters, 50 or more parties for them to choose from.
03:49The first vote, of course, since the student uprising in the summer of 2024, 18 months ago.
03:56Though security is tight, voting can be a violent process here in Bangladesh,
04:02although everything reported to be quiet and running smoothly up to now.
04:06Two main parties out front in this election, as you were describing there,
04:11with an array of parties in coalition with them.
04:14The Bangladesh National Party on the one side, led by the husband of the first female,
04:20the son, rather, of the first female prime minister of this country, Khalid Azir.
04:24He's promising a clean era of politics ahead on the other side of the self-described
04:28Islamist Jamaat-Islami party in coalition with the students who formed their own party
04:34after the uprising, the National Citizen Party.
04:38So, Jonah, it's not just a vote for any of those parties.
04:41There is also a referendum on the constitution.
04:43What does that involve?
04:49Yeah, this is pretty important, actually.
04:51It's happening concurrent with the vote here.
04:53It is, in many ways, the true legacy of that revolution,
04:57because it contains within it a question, it's a simple yes-no question,
05:00about reforms that have been put together by the interim government in this country,
05:06led by the Nobel laureate Mohamed Yunus.
05:09These are reforms to do with policing, the electoral system, the constitution and other institutions.
05:15They're designed to ensure that this country doesn't slide into autocracy again.
05:19A yes-no question.
05:20They're likely to get a landslide, yes, I think.
05:22The bigger question will come later in terms of whichever party wins this election,
05:27whether they actually put those reforms into practice.
05:30Jonah, thank you very much.
05:31Jonah Hull joining us from a polling station in Dhaka.
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