In Gopalganj, the Awami League’s iconic “boat” symbol is missing from campaign posters ahead of the Feb. 12 election, replaced by banners for the BNP, Jamaat and independents. The Awami League was barred from the vote after Sheikh Hasina was ousted in an August 2024 uprising and later sentenced by a Dhaka court; a UN report estimated heavy casualties during the crackdown. Polling shows nearly half of former Awami League voters now favour the BNP and about 30% back Jamaat, while arrests and fear have pushed some families out of politics. Analysts say turnout by undecided, locally focused voters could determine the result.
Gopalganj Without the 'Boat': Hasina’s Hometown Faces an Election Without the Awami League
FILE PHOTO: Posters and a replica of a boat, the voting symbol of Bangladesh Awami League, are seen as people walk on a street in Dhaka, Bangladesh, December 25, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo
Gopalganj, Bangladesh — For the first time in decades, the familiar “boat” emblem of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League is absent from campaign posters across her native district as voters prepare for the Feb. 12 election.
Where walls and poles once bore the Awami League’s symbol, banners for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the Jamaat‑e‑Islami party and independent candidates now compete for attention. The shift reflects a dramatic realignment in a district long considered the party’s safest ground — the birthplace of Hasina and her father, founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The Awami League has been barred from this month’s vote, which is being administered by an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. Hasina was toppled in an August 2024 youth‑led uprising and later went into exile in India. A Dhaka court subsequently sentenced her to death over an alleged role in ordering a deadly crackdown on that uprising; a United Nations report estimated up to 1,400 people were killed and thousands wounded, most by gunfire from security forces, a charge Hasina denies.
Voter Realignment
Recent polling shows a significant shift among former Awami League supporters: nearly half now say they prefer the BNP, while roughly 30% favour Jamaat. The Dhaka‑based Communication & Research Foundation and Bangladesh Election and Public Opinion Studies found that former Awami League voters are consolidating around specific opposition alternatives rather than dispersing evenly.
Personal Costs and Intimidation
For many in Gopalganj, the political change has had a human toll. Families of activists report arrests under laws such as the Anti‑Terrorism Act and say the crackdown has pushed them out of public life. "We won’t vote. We are done," said Shikha Khanam, whose brother, Ibrahim Hossain, an Awami League student activist, was arrested in December and whom the family says was falsely implicated.
“They can put up as many posters as they want. If there is no boat on the ballot paper, none of the 13 voters in my family will go to the polling station,”
— Ershad Sheikh, Gopalganj rickshaw puller
Other residents expressed resignation. Restaurant waiter Mohabbat Molla said the broader choice of candidates meant little without Hasina on the ballot: "Our candidate isn’t here. The Awami League isn’t here. So this election is not for us." Several minority community members and local activists said they live in fear following clashes and arrests tied to last year’s protests.
Could the Vote Be Competitive?
Some locals welcome the change in visible competition. Businessman Sheikh Ilias Ahmed said he hopes ballots will reflect voters’ true choices after what he described as earlier instances of pre‑cast votes. Political analyst Asif Shahan of the University of Dhaka said a nationwide boycott is unlikely: core loyalists may abstain, but undecided and locally focused voters could turn out and decide results.
How former Awami League supporters behave at the ballot box in Gopalganj and elsewhere may well shape the national outcome in a tense and uncertain electoral environment.
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