Jamaat-e-Islami chief casts ballot in Bangladesh election as voters welcome freedom to choose скачать в хорошем качестве

Jamaat-e-Islami chief casts ballot in Bangladesh election as voters welcome freedom to choose

(12 Feb 2026) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Dhaka, Bangladesh - 12 February 2026 1. Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shafiqur Rahman at polling booth  2. Cameras  3. Rahman voting  4. Women inside polling station  5. Close of finger being marked  6. Woman collecting ballot paper and referendum paper to cast vote  7. Woman voting  8. SOUNDBITE (English) Shafiqur Rahman, Jamaat-e-Islami chief: “It is a turning point and we are fighting for that point, Inshallah. We peoples demand change, they desire change, we also desire the change.” 9. Voters entering polling station, security  10. SOUNDBITE (English) Shafiqur Rahman, Jamaat-e-Islami chief: “I have given my vote after three consecutive votes (elections), where I was being deprived. Not me also, all the people of Bangladesh, and that time I was in the prison.”   11. Wide of women registering to vote  12. Mid of woman signing ballot paper 13. Voters standing in line  14. Polling official handing over ballot paper and referendum paper to voter who heads to voting booth  15. First-time voter Md. Din Islam Nazrun voting  16. SOUNDBITE (Bangla) Md. Din Islam Nazrun, 24, first-time voter:  "This vote is very important for Bangladesh, especially to elect a representative. We want to elect the right representative." 17. People inside polling station, others standing in line 18. Close of man voting  19. Close of finger being marked  20. Tilt down from voter to polling official with ballot paper and referendum paper  21. Man voting while another goes towards voting booth  22. SOUNDBITE (Bangla) Sriti Akhtar, 25, first-time voter: “There should be development. Something good should happen and the earlier laws should change. So that no government can be autocratic.”  23. SOUNDBITE (English) Ikram Ul Haque, 28, voter:  “I think it's very crucial because this is the first time we can show our opinion with freedom.”  24. Various of security outside polling station  25. Mounted police STORYLINE: Polls opened across Bangladesh on Thursday for voters to cast ballots in a parliamentary election seen as a critical test of the country’s democracy after years of political turmoil. After a slow start, crowds came to polling stations in the capital, Dhaka, and elsewhere by midmorning. Balloting will continue through Thursday with results expected Friday. 28-year-old voter Ikram Ul Haque said this election was "very crucial" as it's the "first time we can show our opinion with freedom.”  More than 127 million people are eligible to vote in Bangladesh’s first election since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government collapsed in 2024 after weeks of mass protests. Hasina fled the country and her party is banned from the polls. She is living in exile in India. Tarique Rahman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party is a leading contender to form the next government. He is the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and returned to Bangladesh in December after 17 years in self-exile in London. Rahman has pledged to rebuild democratic institutions, restore the rule of law and revive the struggling economy. Shafiqur Rahman, chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, expressed optimism after casting his vote in a polling station. “It (the election) is a turning point,” he told The Associated Press. “People demand change. They desire change. We also desire the change.” AP Video by Shonal Ganguly and Sheikh Saaliq =========================================================== Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...