BANGLADESHIS voted in their droves yesterday in elections that marked the end of two years of emergency rule, with ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed’s Awami League party claiming to be ahead in early returns.

The head of Bangladesh’s military-backed interim government pledged today’s election for prime minister – the country’s first poll in seven years – would be free and fair and urged political parties to accept the results.

An Election Commission official said Bangladesh’s general elections scheduled to take place on December 18 may be delayed by 10 days if all political parties agree.

Police in Bangladesh arrested former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia on corruption charges today, the latest in a series of moves by the military-backed government to undermine a political elite widely viewed as corrupt.

Bangladesh’s national polls, delayed amid deadly violence over allegations the ballot was rigged, will not be held in next 18 months, the top election official said today.

The head of Bangladesh’s anti-corruption watchdog and one of his colleagues said they resigned today after the country’s president asked them to quit.

Unidentified assailants threw at least three bombs in eastern Bangladesh, killing an opposition party activist and wounding a ruling party member, police said today.

Bangladesh’s main opposition Awami League will end its year-long boycott and return to parliament tomorrow, a party spokesman said.

About 200 people armed with pistols, spears and meat cleavers attacked a village during a five-hour rampage, wounding at least 50 people, including children, police said Saturday.

An alliance of right-wing and fundamentalist Islamic parties, led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, appears set for a landslide victory in Bangladesh’s general election.

Dozens of political rivals exchanged gunfire in a village in eastern Bangladesh, killing three children, including a four-year-old boy, who were caught in the crossfire, police said today.

Bangladeshi schools and stores have closed and most traffic has halted in protest at a bomb attack on the country's main opposition leader.