Bangladesh vote brings emergency rule to an end

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.

Sheikh Hasina Wajed is vying with her bitter rival, Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), to reclaim power in the impoverished nation.

“Based on the preliminary results, it seems we are heading for a majority in the parliamentary elections,” Sheikh Hasina’s press secretary, Abdul Kalam Azad, told AFP.