Awami League-led alliance all set to form government in Bangladesh

Dhaka, Dec 30 (ANI): Former Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina's Awami League-led grand alliance has won a stunning landslide victory in the country's ninth general elections.

The Election Commission (EC) has so far announced "unofficial" results of 295 seats of the 300-seat parliament saying, that Hasina's alliance has won 229 seats while her arch rival Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led four-party grouping won only 27 constituencies.

"Results of the poll we have received so far: Total 295. Awami League: 229. BNP: 27. Jatyo Party: 27. Jamaat-e-Islam: 2. JSD: 3. Workers' Party: 2. BJP: 1. LDP: 1 and Independents: 3. This is the result we have so far received, and total result we are expecting to receive very soon, in an hour or two. And we would be declaring it soon," said Election Commissioner Mohammed Sohul Hussain.

The EC official also said that over 80 per cent of the voters had exercised their franchise to elect the country's ninth parliament after a gap of seven years.

Held under tight security, this year's polls saw none of the deadly unrest that forced the January 22, 2007 vote to be cancelled and an army-backed caretaker government to take control.

Bangladesh has been ruled by a military-backed government since January last year when months of political turmoil prompted the army to cancel polls and impose a state of emergency.

Bangladesh attempted to hold elections twice in 2006, but months of strikes and street violence forced the caretaker government to step in.

Hasina, who is close to New Delhi, was in power from 1996-2001. During that period Bangladesh's bilateral ties with India were said to be at its best. nalysts said it is unclear if the losers would accept the results or take their supporters onto the streets to protest, despite comments from independent monitors that the election appeared largely fair and credible. . (ANI)