Bangladesh ruling party wins poll hit by violence, boycott

A woman casts her vote at a polling centre during parliamentary elections in Dhaka January 5, 2014. REUTERS/Andrew Biraj

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh's ruling Awami League won a violence-plagued parliamentary election whose outcome was never in doubt after a boycott by the main opposition party.

With fewer than half of the 300 seats being contested, voters in modest numbers cast ballots on Sunday amid heavy security in polling that lacked the festivity typical of Bangladeshi elections and was shunned by international observers as flawed.