Bangladesh awaits election count
 Strikes and violent protests have marked Bangladeshi politics |
Polls have closed in Bangladesh in an election held amid tight security that will replace the interim government after two years of army-backed rule.
About 50,000 soldiers and 600,000 police were deployed to guard against election fraud and violence.
Polling was reported calm, with voters lining up in their thousands.
The frontrunners, the Awami League of Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), have ruled Bangladesh for years.
Both leaders were jailed for suspected corruption but released to contest the vote.
 |  Perhaps we have taken the toughest-ever security precautions to ensure that balloting takes place peacefully  Noor MohammadPolice inspector general  |
The two rivals pledged to lower food prices, and to tackle corruption and terrorism in the nation of 144 million people.
Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia also both promised to end the confrontation, strikes and violent street rallies that have marked Bangladeshi politics for years. The two women alternated in power for 15 years until 2006.
Polls closed at 1600 local time (1000 GMT) and the Election Commission hopes to start announcing results at about 1300 GMT.
Observers say there may be no clear winner in parliament.
Anti-corruption drive
Long queues formed as Bangladeshis began to vote at the country's 35,000 heavily guarded polling stations.
The BBC's Mark Dummett in the capital, Dhaka, said the mood at the polling station he visited - at Dhaka University - was festive, with a lot of enthusiasm to see the end of the military-backed government.
No serious violence was reported.
 Thousands of people have been waiting in line to vote in the election |
Sheikh Hasina cast her vote shortly after polling started.
"We have waited so long... but [are] feeling good the election is held at last," she said.
Khaleda Zia voted in the capital some time later.
Some 200,000 electoral observers, including 2,500 from abroad, were monitoring the national vote.
Noor Mohammad, the Inspector General of Police, said: "Perhaps we have taken the toughest-ever security precautions to ensure that balloting takes place peacefully, free from rigging, intimidation and threats."
The army cancelled elections due in January 2007 after months of street protests and battles between gangs of rival party supporters spiralled out of control.
The army-backed caretaker government then tried to root out corruption from the country's elites.
Our correspondent says the newly-empowered Anti-Corruption Commission sought to prosecute the top politicians and businessmen who had earned Bangladesh its reputation as one of the world's most corrupt countries.
More than 11 million phoney names were purged from the voter roll, which now numbers about 81 million people.
A simple majority of the parliament's 300 seats is enough to secure victory, but analysts say no clear winner may emerge, leading to fears of unrest if supporters of the rival parties take to the streets.
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