Western-backed Bangladesh ruling party leads in early results

Western-backed ruling Awami League party in Bangladesh has claimed victory in the parliamentary vote, which the opposition has dismissed as a farce.

The initial results of Sunday’s polls from 116 of the contested seats showed that the ruling party was confirmed as the winner in 86 while allied parties or nominal independents won the rest. A final result is expected to be announced later on Monday.

The main opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP) and its allies boycotted the elections and urged voters to stay away from polling stations – a move that undermined the legitimacy of the vote.

The BNP also extended a general strike until Wednesday as it pressed Dhaka to declare the vote null and void.

“The country has rejected these farcical elections which were meaningless, laughable and universally unacceptable,” said deputy leader Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

Election-related violence across Bangladesh claimed the lives of 18 people while hundreds of polling stations came under attack from opposition supporters.

The top-selling newspaper Daily Star denounced the vote as the bloodiest one in Bangladesh’s history, saying the Awami League had won “a hollow victory which gives it neither a mandate nor an ethical standing to govern effectively.”

The boycott by the BNP and other parties came after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina rejected their demand to let the polls be overseen by a neutral caretaker government.