Hasina wins Bangladesh's 1st election in 7 years

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-30 17:22

DHAKA, Bangladesh -- An alliance led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina won a landslide victory in elections aimed at restoring democracy to Bangladesh, an election official said Tuesday.

Bangladesh Awami League President and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina shows the victory sign as she casts her vote at Dhanmondi in Dhaka December 29, 2008. [Agencies]

But even before the tally was complete, Hasina's opponents launched allegations of irregularities and forgery late Monday night, leading some to wonder if the election would be able to end a cycle of unrest that has made the South Asian country virtually ungovernable. The party led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia said it would make a formal comment on the result later Tuesday.

Election official Humayun Kabir said Hasina's alliance won a two-thirds majority in Parliament after votes in most districts had been tallied.

"This has been a very free and fair election," Kabir told reporters at his office in the capital Dhaka.

Hasina asked her supporters not to take to the streets to celebrate the victory, fearing potential clashes with rivals. She was expected to speak at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

The voting marks the country's first election in seven years, but with no fresh faces, and with both leading candidates facing corruption charges, many fear the vote will just mean a return to the corruption, mismanagement and paralyzing protests of previous attempts at democracy.

Hasina and Zia are heirs to Bangladeshi political dynasties and fixtures of the political scene. Zia was elected prime minister in 1991, Hasina in 1996, and Zia again in 2001.

Though bitter rivals, their parties campaigned on similar platforms of reducing corruption and controlling inflation. One of the few policy differences is that Hasina's party is seen as relatively secular and liberal, while Zia has allies among Islamic fundamentalists.

According to the latest tallies, Kabir said Hasina's alliance won 261 out of the 300 parliamentary seats. Zia's alliance won 30, while independent candidates and the smaller Liberal Democratic Party took four.

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