By Jaime Ortega.
The ruling Awami League won the general elections in Bangladesh yesterday , under violence including an opposition boycott , calling the elections a ” farce ” as officials said .
The Electoral Commission confirmed a dawn reelection of the current prime minister , Sheikh Hasina , an expected result given that half of the 300 districts of the country had no opposition candidates present.
The Awami League won 105 of the 139 constituencies voted, in addition to the 127 that achieved in areas where the opposition was filed, giving it a majority of more than two thirds. Hasina will form a new government this month.
The elections will be repeated in eight districts where violence prevented voters to cast ballots : in the country 200 polling stations were burnt and 19 people died in clashes with security forces , according to The Daily Star
The main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP ) , lead by Khaleda Zia, who has claimed that he is under house arrest , called for a new strike Monday for two days to force new elections .
The BNP , which leads a coalition of 18 political parties , calls for the cancellation of the elections because he disagreed with the creation of an interim government led by the Awami League.
The law provided for the establishment of an interim government consisting of all parties to monitor the elections, but Hasina amended the legislation in 2011 and now controls the electoral process. Hasina and Zia have alternated the power in the last two decades and are bitter enemies.
United States and European Union refused to send observers. The tension usually intensifies in election periods in this overcrowded country with 150 million inhabitants , with poor development indicators, serious environmental problems and very politically fragmented.
