On the Campaign Trail
I was fortunate enough to travel with Sheikh Hasina in her car during Election Day. The Prime Minister elect (Prime Ministerial candidate at the time!) drove to several constituencies in Dhaka and stopped quickly at each one to meet the parliamentary candidate or speak to the voters.
You can see all my photos from Election Day here.
I apologise for the poor quality of some of the pictures – I was taking photos from inside her car which is actually quite difficult! You’ll also see a photo of Dhaka Central Jail. I took that photo because Sheikh Hasina told me that this jail was practically her second home for most of her childhood as her father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was under arrest for many years. She told me that she visited him with the rest of her family every weekend so it was a very familiar landmark.
The thing I found most interesting was that there were definitely more women voters than men voters. I spoke to one voter called Rahima who was carrying a tiny baby. She told me that she was suffering from a leg injury and she had a small child but she was still adamant about voting. I asked her why voting was so important to her. She told me that she had very few rights in her life so when she was given an opportunity to exercise her right, she was not going to waste it.
I’ve since read that voter turnout for this election was between 70 – 80%, which is incredible. It is because of women like Rahima that democracy has been restored in Bangladesh. I know we already have a democratic system in the U.K. but if any of you British non-voters are reading this, please start exercising your right! We need to increase out voter turnout in Britain, especially in council elections.