Hasina set to win Bangladesh polls
Oppn rejects ‘rigged vote’, violence leaves 17 dead
DHAKA: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party won Sunday’s controversial general election, local TV said.
Hasina’s alliance easily crossed the 151 seats required to form a government, according to Channel 24, which is compiling results from around the country.
The poll was marred by allegations of vote rigging and violence that killed 17 people.
A third straight term for Awami League was widely expected, but the main opposition led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) rejected the election and called for a fresh vote in the country of 165 million people.
The Election Commission said it was investigating complaints of rigging, even as at least three voters in southeast Bangladesh, including a journalist, said they were barred from entering polling booths or were told their ballot papers had already been filled in. “Allegations are coming from across the country and those are under investigation,” commission spokesman SM Asaduzzaman said.
“If we get any confirmation from our own channels then measures will be taken as per rules.”
“The election is a cruel mockery with the nation,” BNP Secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said. “This type of election is harmful to the nation. The country has suffered so much through this election.”
Reuters saw a group of about 50 women chanting “Sheikh Hasina! Sheikh Hasina!” on a deserted street in Dhaka as election results started trickling in.
Reuters reporters across the country saw sparse turnout at polling booths during the election. In nine polling centres in Dhaka, posters bearing the Awami League’s “boat” symbol far outnumbered those of the opposition.
Mahbub Talukdar, one of the five election commissioners who stirred a controversy last week by saying there was no level-playing field for the parties, said he did not see any opposition polling agents near the Dhaka booth where he voted, suggesting they had been kept away.
Clashes in the Muslim-majority country broke out between workers of the Awami League and its opponents, led by the BNP of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. At least one of the vic- tims was attacked by a machetecarrying group, police said, adding a man from a paramilitary auxiliary force also died.
Police spokesman Sohel Rana said seven victims were workers of the ruling party and five from the BNP. He said around 20 people were wounded.
More than 40 candidates of the opposition alliance pulled out during polling , alleging vote rigging, local media said.
Nearly 287 candidates had contested the election from the opposition group.
A source in the opposition said many candidates pulled out individually but that the group’s final decision would be announced later. Some 1,848 candidates are contesting for 299 out of 300 seats in the Parliament. The polls are being held at 40,183 polling stations. Voting was suspended in one seat due to the death of a candidate.