A four-party opposition alliance took an early lead after Bangladesh's parliamentary election today, unofficial results showed.
With results declared for 97 of the 300 seats in the new parliament after Monday's poll, former prime minister Ms Begum Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party and one of several allied Islamic parties had won 68 seats between them.
Khaleda's bitter rival, Ms Sheikh Hasina, who became the country's first prime minister to serve a full five-year term on July 15th, had a tally of just 18 seats for her Awami League.
Election violence killed at least six people on polling day and injured more than 100 in the mainly Muslim country. Bangladesh won independence in 1971 and has been governed by women, in the person of Ms Khaleda and Ms Hasina, for a decade.
Supporters of both women accused their rivals of cheating in Monday's election, which followed a campaign during which political violence killed about 300 people.
Ms Hasina stepped down on July 15th in line with the constitution and handed power to a non-party caretaker government.
Hasina's Awami League won 146 seats in the 1996 election against the 116 for Ms Khaleda's party.