Bangladeshis vote in "gateway to democracy" poll

By Anis Ahmed

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladeshis voted on Monday in the first polls organized by the country's army-backed interim government since it took power in early 2007 with a promise to restore democracy.

Officials said voters turned out enthusiastically but peacefully in the local elections, with more than 70 percent of the total 1.3 million registered voters estimated to have cast ballots in four city corporations and nine municipalities.

"Counting of votes has started and we will know the results by late tonight," an election official said. Each voter had to cast three ballots -- one for the mayor, one for councilors and one for women in reserved seats, he said.

Other officials and witnesses said the voting was orderly in all the more than 700 polling stations, except for a few incidents of violating election rules.

"The offenders were taken to task immediately," one official in northern Rajshahi city said.

Monday's elections were monitored by thousands of observers from Bangladesh and abroad. Their opinion is likely to be a barometer for the success of national elections later in 2008.

The country has been under a state of emergency since the interim government, headed by former central bank governor Fakhruddin Ahmed, took power in January 2007 following widespread political violence.

It cancelled a national election due the same month.

A successful election and smooth transition to democracy will have a big bearing on Bangladesh's economic future, analysts say.

All the candidates in Monday's polls had registered as independents because Bangladesh's election laws prevented political parties from directly contesting local councils.

But after a ruling last week by the High Court, political parties will be able to field candidates during additional rounds of local polls in coming weeks to help them prepare for a national election expected in December.

"NO ANOMALIES"

"So far we have noticed no anomaly or breach of the codes of conduct," said Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, chairman of monitoring group the National Election Observation Council.

The elections are the first in the country's history to use a digital voter list with photographs to avoid rigging and fake voting, problems which have plagued previous ballots.

"This is the first opportunity we have in many years to elect a mayor and councilors in a free and unintimidating atmosphere," said one voter In the northeastern city of Sylhet.