Little election fizz in Bangladesh as prime minister set for another term

Utility poles across Bangladesh are festooned with campaign flyers carrying pictures of general election candidates, most of them from the ruling party, as an opposition boycott looks set to usher Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to a fourth straight term. Rights groups warn the country of 170 million is heading for virtual one-party rule, after the boycott by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), though Western nations, key clients of its garments industry, have urged free elections. On walls in Dhaka, the capital, slogans painted in red and blue exhorted voters to pick "Once again, Sheikh Hasina" and "Vote for the boat", the symbol of her Awami League party, before campaigning wraps up on Friday.