Hasina, allies secure majority in Bangladesh

Dhaka, Dec 30: Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her nine-party alliance raced to a landslide victory, winning 225 seats of the 299 seats that figured in Bangladesh's ninth General Election.

This meant a searing defeating for Hasina's arch political rival and two-term Prime Minister, Begum Khaleda Zia, and her Islamist allies who together enjoyed a two-thirds majority in the last elected Parliament (2001-06).While Zia won in all the seats, her chief ally, Jamaat-e-Islami's Ameer (chief), Motiur Rahman Nizami, scraped through with a narrow margin after trailing for long.

But the loss of over a dozen seats by the JeI could be an indicator that the people of Bangladesh had rejected religious extremism preached by him and others of the Islami Oikya Jote (Islamist alliance).This was a signal to the world community, political analysts said, that has serious concerns about the spread of terrorism in the name of religion in South Asia.

While Hasina counselled calm as results poured in, Zia complained of irregularities in the Monday poll, hinting at rigging.Both the women contenders, as also the caretaker government and the Election Commission tasked to conduct a free and fair poll, had Monday expressed satisfaction.

"No matter whatever the outcome of the result is, the question is if it is held in a free and fair manner," the chief of the four-party alliance had said Monday. International observers, among them the European Union (EU), also testified to a fair poll that saw an estimated 70 percent turnout of the 80 million electorate.