AN ALLIANCE headed by Bangladesh's former prime minister Sheikh Hasina looked to have won the country's general election yesterday.
Early results showed Ms Hasina's alliance had won 88 out of 106 seats so far in the 300-seat parliament, with 16 going to a group led by Begum Khaleda Zia, another former prime minister and rival for power, and two seats to candidates outside the two
alliances.
The vote aimed to return Bangladesh, a country of more than 140 million people, to democracy after two years of emergency rule imposed by an army-backed government.
For the most part, the election avoided the problems of the previous polls, which were marred by violence and accusations of vote-rigging.
"The election ended in a very peaceful environment and I never saw such a congenial atmosphere. The turnout was tremendous," Taleya Rehman, executive director of monitoring group Democracy Watch, said. A military-backed interim government took over in January 2007, following widespread street violence between supporters of rival parties and cancelled elections.
Whoever wins the election will have to tackle the endemic corruption, ailing economy and chronic political and social unrest that prompted the military to intervene.
Rivals Ms Hasina and Ms Khaleda alternated in power for 15 years to 2006, but critics say they failed to resolve Bangladesh's problems in a large part because of protests, strikes and street violence linked to their parties when they were out of office.
Bangladesh's neighbours worry an increasingly violent Islamist militant minority in an otherwise moderate nation could provide support and shelter for radicals in their own countries.
The leading election candidates pledged to crack down on violent extremists and made populist promises to contain prices and promote growth in a country where 45 per cent of the population live below the poverty line.
Official results will not be available until later today. Analysts said it was unclear if the losers would accept the results or take their supporters back on to the streets to protest.
"We have waited so long … but (are] feeling good the election is held at last," Ms Hasina said after casting her vote.
Ms Khaleda, leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), said: "If the election is free and fair, we will win and form the next government."
