As news of initial polling results from the Bangladesh elections started to filter in, I contacted my Bangladeshi homey who I go to for his infinite knowledge on all things Bangladesh.

I wanted him to handicap the elections for me since with my limited knowledge of Bangladeshi politics, I can’t tell Khaleda Zia from Sheikh Hasina.

I believe his exact words were: “Both are useless”. He is right. [BBC handicaps the election]

There is very little difference between the two main protagonists, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, in terms of the policies they plan on implementing. In fact, in the region of South Asia as a whole, aside from flashing the “V” sign there appears to be little demanded in terms of qualifications from political leaders.

So why did Sheikh Hasina win? [Reuters]

Sheikh Hasina did it the right way, she used her right hand to flash the “V” sign. On a more serious note, Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party won because it was time for a change. The last elected government was formed by Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Yes, politics in South Asia can be explained in such simplistic terms.

Looks like you are one of our regular visitors. Here is our RSS feed, just another way to keep up with the new posts.