Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her allies won a massive parliamentary majority in Bangladesh's first election in seven years, officials said on Tuesday, but her long-time rival alleged massive ballot-rigging. The US government congratulated Bangladesh for Monday's successful and peaceful election, saying the high turnout reflected a “desire to see democracy restored” in the south Asian nation. “The United States welcomes the success of Bangladesh's parliamentary elections” which saw former prime minister Hasina win the country's first election since 2001 in a landslide, acting State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said in a statement. “All Bangladeshis can take great pride in the success of these elections. The high voter turnout underscores the people's desire to see democracy restored as well (as) to have a voice in their future,” he added. Analysts said it was unclear if the losers would accept the result or call their supporters onto the streets to protest, ignoring the judgment of independent monitors that the election appeared largely fair and credible. Hasina told UN election observers at her Dhaka home on Tuesday that she wanted to work with all sides, including the opposition, to strengthen democracy and achieve economic progress, a spokesman for her Awami League told reporters. By late Tuesday Hasina's party had won 229 seats and her alliance a landslide 263 seats in the 300-member parliament, election officials said. Five results remained outstanding. Hasina, 61 was expected to hold a news conference on Wednesday, her party said. However, Begum Khaleda Zia, another former prime minister and a long-standing Hasina foe, alleged widespread fraud in elections that gave her own party just 31 seats. “So we reject the election outcome,” she said in her first reaction to elections. Clashes between rival political activists left one person dead and 50 others injured in the northern Pabna area, Diganta TV quoted police and witnesses as saying. Around 100 more people were hurt in post-election violence across the country, the TV station said. Another private channel, Bangla Vision, reported two deaths.
