EMILY KWONG, HOST:
Bangladesh held what observers say is the country's first fair election in nearly two decades. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party emerged with a landslide victory, followed by the Islamist Party Jamaat that garnered nearly a third of the vote. NPR's Diaa Hadid reports from the capital Dhaka.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIREN WAILING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Amid sirens, Mohammad Mian sells hot tea at the Sadarghat Terminal, where boats ferry people around this country ribboned with rivers.
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HADID: Mian says when ousted leader Sheikh Hasina was in charge, her thugs used to extort the equivalent of 80 cents from him every day here. It hurt. He only makes around $4 a day.
MOHAMMAD MIAN: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: So he was delighted when Sheikh Hasina fled Bangladesh. He was more delighted when he voted on Thursday in elections marked largely by goodwill, in contrast to the violence that many had feared.
MIAN: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: He says, it was calm and peaceful, and the people at the polling center told me, vote for whoever you want. Now he wants the next government to end corruption. And that's just one of the many expectations on the next prime minister, Tarique Rahman, chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which won more than a two-thirds majority.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: Sixty-year-old Rahman presents as a somber figure. He offered his first public comments on Saturday in a ballroom crammed with party faithful 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 facing Bangladesh - a fragile economy, hollowed-out institutions, unraveling security. There's another challenge, too.
MASUM BILLAH: He has never hold a public post in Bangladesh before.
HADID: Masum Billah is a writer and analyst. He says Tarique Rahman is largely untested because he only returned to Bangladesh in December after 17 years in exile. But he enjoys enormous goodwill. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party was founded by his father, Ziaur Rahman, one of the men who led Bangladesh to liberation. After his father was assassinated, his mother, Khaleda Zia, served as prime minister twice. Still, Masum Billah says, Rahman will only have a short grace period.
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HADID: Back at the Sadarghat terminal, Pradeep Shankar is waiting for his ferry with an oxygen cylinder by his side. It's for his father, who has an ailing heart and lungs.
PRADEEP SHANKAR: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: He says, the government needs to provide better health care. He says, the sector is so corrupt. A few feet away, Ruppam ties plastic bottles with a cord to carry. She's only got one name, and she guesses she's 45. She makes about $2.40 a day, selling bottles to recyclers.
RUPPAM: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: She says she's blind in one eye and losing vision in the other.
RUPPAM: (Non-English language spoken).
HADID: She wants the government to help her open a little tobacco store, a job that's a bit easier. Waiting in the wings is the Islamist party known as Jamaat. This is analyst Masum Billah again.
BILLAH: How much vote they actually received is unprecedented.
HADID: They won about a third of the vote. Some voters liked their promises to clean up corruption. Other voters told NPR they hoped Islamists would pressure women to cover their hair and even their faces. And if Bangladeshis sour on Rahman and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the fortunes of the Islamists may just improve even more. Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Dhaka.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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