Early Results Show Landslide Win For Sheikh Hasina In Bangladesh Polls

Sheikh Hasina raced into a clear lead, quickly securing 19 seats against zero for the opposition, according to Channel 24, which is compiling results from around the country.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appeared headed for a landslide win in a general election Sunday that was marred by clashes between rival supporters that killed 14 people and opposition claims of rigged voting.

Early results showed Hasina’s Awami League racing into a clear lead, quickly securing 61 seats against one for the opposition — some by tens of thousands of votes — according to Channel 24, which is compiling results from around the country.

The alliance of parties running against Hasina branded the election “farcical” and urged the country’s election commission to void the results.

“We are demanding that a fresh election is held under a neutral government as early as possible,” Kamal Hossain, who heads the coalition, told reporters.

Deadly violence and bitter rivalry that marred the election campaign spilled over into voting day, even as authorities imposed tight security with 600,000 troops, police and other security forces deployed across the country.

Ten people were killed in clashes between Awami League and the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) supporters, police said, while three men were shot by police who said they were protecting polling booths.

An auxiliary police member was also killed by armed opposition activists, according to officials.

The BNP-led opposition alliance Sunday accused Hasina’s party of using stuffed ballot boxes and other illegal means to fix the result, which was to be officially announced Monday.

BNP spokesman Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal told reporters there were “irregularities” in 221 of the 300 seats contested.

(This story has not been edited by TRIPURANEWSLIVE staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)