DHAKA— Vote counting was underway Sunday in Bangladesh’s parliamentary election that was fraught with violence and a boycott from the main opposition party, paving the way for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League to seize a fourth consecutive term.
At least 18 arson attacks preceded the vote but the election day passed relatively calm. Turnout was around 40%, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal said after the polls closed.
Security incidents, including four deaths in an arson attack on a passenger train on Friday, have intensified tensions ahead of the election that was shunned by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allied groups. They accuse Hasina of turning Bangladesh into a one-party state and muzzling dissent and civil society.
Authorities blamed much of the violence on the BNP, accusing it of seeking to sabotage the election. On Saturday, detectives arrested seven men belonging to the BNP and its youth wing for their alleged involvement in the train attack. The party denied any role in the incident.
