DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - Officials began hand counting ballots Monday after Bangladeshis voted at the end of a deadly parliamentary campaign.Five people were killed and 300 injured in scattered election-day violence, in what was considered a modest casualty toll given that at least 157 people were killed and 2,500 injured since the July 15 start of the campaign.
Final results were not expected until Wednesday, and early vote counting showed no clear trend for either Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia.
Monday's elections are the fourth since the return of democracy in 1990 when the two party leaders joined forces to oust military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad.
An estimated half-million soldiers, paramilitary troops and police patrolled the streets and guarded the 30,000 polling booths, where men and women stood in separate lines to vote. (Read photo caption below)
When the polls closed in the afternoon, authorities said that voter turnout was heavy and that violence had delayed balloting in at least 65 locations.
Police reported six people were killed and 60 others injured in bomb explosions and clashes among supporters of rival candidates on Sunday night.
The pre-election campaign saw both Hasina and Zia promising to reduce poverty, strengthen democracy and create more jobs. However, the two politicians have refrained from making any commitment to prevent supporters from launching general strikes or boycotting parliament.
Political strikes cost the Muslim-majority nation at least 3 billion a year in lost production and exports.
PHOTO CAPTION:
A Bangladesh Army personnel keeps the crowd back at a vote counting station in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday Oct. 1, 2001. Voting to elect 300 members to the Bangladesh Parliament was held Monday. (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman)