In the run-up to the election, activists from both the ruling party and the opposition complained of attacks on supporters and candidates. Bangladesh’s leading English-language newspaper, the Daily Star, said 16 people were killed in 13 districts in election-related violence. Nurul Huda, Bangladesh’s chief election commissioner, said as he cast his vote in the capital, Dhaka. Hasina’s main rival is former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, the leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, who a court deemed ineligible to run for office because she is in prison for corruption. On Sunday, some 104 million people in the Muslim-majority country were eligible to vote, including many young, first-time voters.

Source: thestar December 30, 2018 15:32 UTC