An analysis of the referendum on the constitutional reforms proposed in the July National Charter shows a complex picture when the results are compared with the country's total population.
While millions voted in favor of the reforms, a large portion of the population did not take part, raising questions about how fully the outcome reflects public opinion.
Only 27.81 per cent of the people voted 'Yes' for the referendum while 12.93 per cent gave 'No' vote against the July Charter. More than 60 per cent, of the population did not participate in the referendum.
Experts say the results should not be judged only by turnout, as Bangladesh has no legal requirement for a minimum number of voters to validate an election.
According to the 2022 census, the country's total population is 169.828 million. In the General Election and referendum, there were 127.695 million registered voters, but 42.133 million of them did not vote.
When the results are compared with the total population, 47.225 million people voted 'Yes' in support of the reform, which is about 27.81 per cent of the total population.
On the other hand, 21.960 million people voted 'No', which is about 12.93 per cent of the total population. This means that more than half of the population did not take part in the referendum.
Professor Kazi Mohammad Mahbobor Rahman Department of Political Science of Dhaka University, told the Daily Observer that, "No election in Bangladesh can be called acceptable or unacceptable just by looking at how many people voted. There is no law in Bangladesh that says a certain percentage of voters must take part for an election to be valid."
He said, "In some countries, like Turkey, the law is different. There, more than 50 per cent of voters must vote in a presidential election, or the election has to be held again,"
"The main problem with our referendum was that all political parties did not agree on it.
Because of this, there is now a crisis over how to implement the July Charter," said Mahbobor.
However, since many people did not participate, there is still debate about whether the result truly represents the opinion of the entire population.
Among those who voted, 47,225,980 people voted 'Yes', which is about 37.75 per cent of the total voters. A total of 74.35 thousand 196 votes were canceled. Meanwhile, 21,961,231 people voted 'No', which is about 17.28 per cent of the total voters.
In total, 76.21 million 20 thousand 407 people took part in the referendum. About 51.16 million voters, or 39.16 per cent of the total voters, did not vote.
According to the revised results published on February 25, the election gazette reported that the total votes cast were 76.621 thousand 407. The number of invalid votes was 74.35 thousand 196, and the total number of valid votes was 69.186 thousand 211. Out of these, 47.225 thousand 980 were 'Yes' votes and 21.960 thousand 231 were 'No' votes.
