Bangladesh gazettes referendum results, 68.59% back ‘Yes’

“Yes” wins with 68.59 percent support for constitutional reform push

Election Commission (EC) has gazetted the results of the July National Charter referendum on constitutional reforms, revealing that 68.59 percent of valid votes favoured “Yes”.

On Friday night, following approval of the tally, EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed issued the official notification under the commission led by AMM Nasir Uddin.

The referendum was held alongside the parliamentary polls in 299 constituencies, excluding Sherpur-3 where polling was postponed due to a candidate’s death.

A total of 127.3 million voters were eligible, with 77.7 million casting ballots. Of these, 7.42 million were invalid.

The referendum sought public consent for implementing 48 constitutional amendments under the July Charter.

The broader Charter contains 84 reform pledges in total. Provisions outside constitutional amendments have been classified by the National Consensus Commission as reforms to be executed through laws, ordinances, rules and executive orders.

Although Bangladesh has held three referendums in the past, this marks the first time such a vote has been paired with a national election.

Voters received an additional ballot paper specifically for the referendum alongside the standard parliamentary ballot.