Awami League

Bangladesh's army chief Waker-Uz-Zaman said Monday he would "form an interim government" after the prime minister resigned and fled the capital in the face of overwhelming protests.

"I am taking full responsibility," the general said, dressed in military fatigues and cap, although it was not immediatly clear if he would head a caretaker government.

Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina won re-election for a fifth term Sunday, officials said, following a boycott led by an opposition party she branded a "terrorist organisation".

Voters in Bangladesh began casting their ballots Sunday as polls opened in an election fraught with violence and a boycott from the main opposition party, paving the way for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League to seize a fourth consecutive term.

Bangladesh votes Sunday in an election guaranteed to give Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina her fifth term in office, after a boycott by opposition parties whose ranks have been decimated by mass arrests.