Polls open in Bangladesh election guaranteed to hand Sheikh Hasina a fifth term

Already decimated by mass arrests, opposition parties have boycotted the sham' election, which will give victory to the ruling Awami League

Bangladesh began voting on Sunday in an election guaranteed to give a fifth term in office to rime minister Sheikh Hasina, after a boycott led by an opposition party she branded a terrorist organisation".

Hasina has presided over exceptional economic growth in a country once beset by grinding poverty, but her government has been accused of rampant human rights abuses and a ruthless opposition crackdown.