Parliamentary elections in Bangladesh are set to be won by the ruling Awami League, as violence plagued the country leaving at least 17 dead.
Heavy security was seen at polling booths across the country, with voting suspended at over 160 polling stations and more than 70 being set alight by protestors.
Tensions have flared after the leading opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, decided to boycott the elections, with over half the seats now being uncontested. International observers have also declined to send election monitors to the country, with the EU, USA and Commonwealth declining.
Khaleda Zia, leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), dismissed the elections stating,
Heavy security was seen at polling booths across the country, with voting suspended at over 160 polling stations and more than 70 being set alight by protestors.
Tensions have flared after the leading opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, decided to boycott the elections, with over half the seats now being uncontested. International observers have also declined to send election monitors to the country, with the EU, USA and Commonwealth declining.
Khaleda Zia, leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), dismissed the elections stating,
“No one at home and abroad will legitimise this farce of an election”.In some districts of the capital Dhaka, voter turnout amounted to 20%. Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, a BNP vice chairman, told Reuters,
"The turnout is a clear indication that the common people rejected this election and it is almost an election without voters".