Bangladesh polls end peacefully

Urban councils have very limited power or money

Polling in Bangladesh to elect mayors and councillors to three cities has ended peacefully amid heavy security.

More than 30,000 police, paramilitary and army troops were deployed and mobile networks were shut down to prevent violence.

Independent observers said voter turnout was low for the polls, which were boycotted by the opposition Awami League.

Full results are expected by Friday morning, with victory for the ruling four-party coalition expected in all three cities.

Schools and businesses were closed and most transport ordered off the roads in the capital, Dhaka and the cities of Khulna and Rajshahi, where the voting took place.

Low-key campaign

These were the first elections in Bangladesh since the overwhelming victory for the ruling four-party alliance led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) last year.

Observers estimate that only 25 percent voted in Dhaka

By Bangladeshi standards it was a low-key campaign, mostly because of the Awami League boycott.

The Awami League had complained that certain members of the Election Commission responsible for overseeing the vote were not impartial.

The independent Fair Election Monitoring Alliance estimated that only 25 percent of the voters in Dhaka cast their votes.

Although smaller opposition parties and independent candidates contested the polls, the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia is under no threat.

Political analysts said whatever the turnout, the coalition will take the maximum number of seats for mayors and councillors in the three cities.

Extravagant pledges

The campaign was made more colourful by the extravagant pledges made by more than 1,500 candidates who are running.

Soldiers have been deployed for security

They pledged to take drastic steps to rid urban areas of traffic jams, pollution, corruption and mosquitoes.

But in reality the local authorities in Bangladesh have little power and almost no money.

The four-party alliance candidate expected to be the new mayor in Dhaka, Sadeque Hussain Khoka, has appealed to the government to give the city corporations more power.

He says more power is needed for them to take steps to improve law and order and provide more reliable water and electricity supplies.

Relative calm

But the central government is unlikely to relinquish control of the police and has its own plans as to how the infrastructure should be improved.

Concern was also expressed in the media over the number of candidates with criminal records contesting the polls.

They were said to be running only because once they become members of public authorities it will be harder for the police to bring charges against them.

But the campaign was relatively violence-free with only two people killed up until Wednesday.