DHAKA: BangladeshPrime Minister Sheikh Hasina appeared headed for a landslide win in a generalelection yesterday marred by opposition claims of rigged voting as 14 peoplewere killed in clashes between rival supporters. Early results showed Hasinaracing into a clear lead, winning each of the first 29 seats declared - some bytens of thousands of votes - according to Channel 24, which is compilingresults from around the country.
The deadlyviolence and bitter rivalry that marred the election campaign spilled over intovoting day, even as authorities imposed tight security with 600,000 troops,police and other security forces deployed across the country. Ten people werekilled in clashes between Hasina's ruling Awami League party and supporters ofthe main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, police said, while three menwere shot by police who said they were protecting polling booths. An auxiliarypolice member was also killed by armed opposition activists, according toofficials.
Hasina, 71, hasbeen lauded for boosting economic growth in the poor South Asian nation duringher decade in power and for welcoming Rohingya refugees fleeing a militarycrackdown in neighbouring Myanmar. But critics accuse her of authoritarianismand crippling the opposition - including archrival Khaleda Zia who is serving17 years in prison on graft charges - to cling on to power.
The BNP-ledopposition alliance yesterday accused Hasina's party of using stuffed ballotboxes and other illegal means to fix the result, which was to be announcedtoday. BNP spokesman Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal told reporters there were"irregularities" in 221 of the 300 seats contested. Its Islamist allyJamaat-e-Islami said it would reject the results. "Voters are not allowedto enter booths. Especially women voters are being forced to vote for theboat," Alal said, referring to the Awami League symbol.
'We'll cast yourvote'
Bangladeshelection commission spokesman S M Asaduzzaman told AFP the body had"received a few allegations of irregularities" and was investigating.Authorities ordered mobile operators to shut down high speed Internet servicesuntil midnight Sunday "to prevent the spread of rumors" that couldtrigger unrest. One independent television news channel complained that itsbroadcasts were blocked.
Voting in thecapital Dhaka was largely peaceful as convoys of soldiers and paramilitaryforces were on the streets where most traffic was banned. "I have nevermissed voting in my life. This is probably the last election for me and I wanta suitable candidate for my country," 98-year-old Abdus Salam said at aDhaka polling station. However voters in provincial areas reportedintimidation. Atiar Rahman said he was beaten by ruling party activists in thecentral district of Narayanganj. "They told me not to bother, 'We'll castyour vote on your behalf'," he told AFP.
The oppositionsaid the unrest was stirred up to deter voters, and presiding officers reporteda low turnout across the country. Yesterday's deaths brought to 18 the officialpolice toll for election violence since the ballot was announced on Nov 8.Police said they acted "in self-defence" in the southern town ofBashkhali, when they fired on opposition supporters who stormed a pollingbooth, killing one. In a separate incident a man was shot by police after hetried to steal a ballot box.
Free and fair?
Hasina needs 151seats to control parliament but experts say a victory would be sullied byaccusations that she hamstrung opponents. The opposition says more than 15,000of its activists were detained during the campaign, crushing its ability tomobilize support. Human Rights Watch and other international groups said thecrackdown created a climate of fear which could prevent opposition supportersfrom casting ballots.
The United Statesraised concerns about the credibility of the election while the United Nationscalled for greater efforts to make the vote fair. Seventeen oppositioncandidates have been arrested over what they claim are trumped-up charges whileanother 17 were disqualified from running by courts, which Hasina's opponentssay are government controlled. The Bangladeshi leadership has alternatedbetween Hasina and Zia, allies-turned-foes, over the last three decades.
Hasina rejectsaccusations of authoritarianism but analysts say she feared young voters wouldsupport the BNP. Her government was criticized this year for its heavy handlingof weeks of major student protests that brought Dhaka to a standstill. Hasina,daughter of Bangladesh's first president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was giftedvictory in the 2014 election when the BNP boycotted the vote claiming it wasnot free and fair. Rights groups have since accused her administration ofstifling freedom of speech by toughening a draconian anti-press law and theenforced disappearance of dissenters. - AFP