The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has won the country’s crucial parliamentary election with a thumping majority, with leader Tarique Rahman poised to become the prime minister, according to newly published results.

Bangladesh Election Commission results, published by The Dhaka Tribune and Prothomalo English news website on Saturday, showed Rahman’s BNP overwhelmingly winning Thursday’s polls.

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But there has been no official announcement.

Initial results published on Friday by the Election Commission gave the BNP and its allies at least 212 out of 299 parliamentary seats, while the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies won 77 seats.

The National Citizen Party, led by youth activists who played a key role in toppling Hasina and part of a Jamaat-led alliance, won just six of the 30 seats it contested, highlighting the difficulty of converting protest momentum into electoral support.

In a statement, Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus congratulated Rahman for “the landslide victory of his party” as he prepares to step down and hand over power to an elected government.

The 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has led Bangladesh as its “chief adviser” since an August 2024 uprising, said that Rahman “would help guide the country toward stability, inclusiveness, and development”.

The opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party has also issued a statement saying it had accepted the “overall outcome” of the election won by the rival nationalist party, despite having alleged problems with the vote count.

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“We recognise the overall outcome, and we respect the rule of law,” Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman said in a statement.

Tarique Rahman, 60, has not yet commented after trends in favour of his party became clear, though he had expressed confidence in securing victory ahead of the vote.

Rahman smiled and waved from his vehicle to journalists gathered outside his house in Dhaka as he left for a mosque, television footage showed.

Late on Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated the BNP, Rahman and “the people of Bangladesh” following the polls.

“The United States looks forward to working with the newly elected government to advance prosperity and the security of the region,” he wrote on X.

The BNP had asked people to refrain from large celebrations and offer special prayers instead.

“Despite winning … by a large margin of votes, no celebratory procession or rally shall be organised,” the party said.