Today, April 28, there were elections in Dhaka for the council and the mayor.
Elections in Dhaka are a different sort of event. The dominant advertising consists of paper billboards stretched across the road.
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| A CNG just makes it through |
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| Do people read these? |
In some cases the road was nearly impassable because of the amount of messages across the road.
In Dhaka it was illegal for political parties to participate in the election. So most candidates had an image which they utilized to indicate their allegiance.
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| Vote for me I am an elephant |
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| The time is now! |
Traffic was banned for the day which made walking pleasant but left the city extremely quiet. Roads which usually are grid-locked had no cars. Shops, schools, business were all closed.
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| Weirdly quiet |
Security was everywhere. Armed police on the streets and at polling booths.
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I seem out of place
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The very intimidating RAB driving around on the streets.
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RAB - avoid!
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On the day supporters were on the streets indicating (intimidating?) to people what to do. They were open about who they supported. Felt different as in New Zealand there is no electioneering on election day.
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| Our man is best! |
Early on there were crowds around the polling booths but by the end of the day it was very quiet.
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| There is a polling station here somewhere |
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| Voting is somewhere in here |
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| Vote here |
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| Voting |
Some last observations
