AL 55, BNP 24, Jamaat 5: Unofficial results of 87 UZs declared

The Awami League has got its nose ahead in the staggered Upazila Parishad elections after Sunday's fourth phase of voting. According to unofficial results from 87 out of 91 Upazilas (UZ), candidates backed by the ruling party won the chairman polls in 55 UZs while the BNP-endorsed aspirants took 24. The BNP’s key ally Jamaat-e-Islami candidates won in five Upazilas and the other went to a Jatiya Party loyalist. Independent candidates have won in Pirojpur’s Bhandaria and Habiganj Sadar Upazila. After the four rounds of the vote in local government body, the AL favourites had won chairman posts in 177 UZs, toppling the BNP which was in the lead after the third round. The BNP has now 150 chairmen. With its ally Jamaat’s 32 chairmen and one of LDP, the opposition 19-Party alliance is ahead of the Awami League with chairmen in 183 UZs. Apart from these, three from the Jatiya Party, six from Chittagong Hill Tracts-based Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS) and three from the United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF) also won chairman posts after the fourth leg. The PCJSS-backed candidate Moni Chakma in Rangamati’s Barkal Upazila is the only female chairman-elect so far. Around 14 million voters cast their ballots Sunday for electing a chairman, a vice-chairman and a woman vice-chairman in each UZ. A total of 1186 candidates contested the fourth phase. Of them, 447 ran for chairman, 311 for vice-chairman and 519 for women vice-chairman, according to bdnews24.com.