Hasina set for landslide win as Opp demands new vote

DHAKA: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was heading for a landslide win in general election Sunday that was marred by opposition claims of vote-rigging and violence between rival supporters that killed at least 17 people.Hasina’s ruling Awami League party easily crossed the 151 seats required to form a majority government, according to local TV station Channel 24, which is compiling results from around the country.

As midnight approached, the Awami League and its allies had won 191 seats - some by tens of thousands of votes - while the opposition coalition had only five, the channel said.

The alliance running against Hasina, led by the main opposition Bangladesh National Party, branded the vote “farcical” and urged the country´s election commission to void the results. “We are demanding that a fresh election is held under a neutral government as early as possible,” Kamal Hossain, who heads the coalition, told reporters.