An alliance led by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League has the edge in Monday's parliamentary vote, some analysts say. Others predict neither she nor rival and fellow ex-PM Begum Khaleda Zia will have an immediate majority.

There were fears that jockeying for parliamentary support after the election could provoke violence and delay moves to tackle poverty and corruption in the impoverished South Asian nation of more than 140 million.

In a pre-election broadcast on Sunday, Mr Fakhruddin Ahmed, the head of the outgoing interim government, urged the public and political parties accept the results peacefully.

'As the country is ready for a healthy transition to democracy, let me say I am sorry if any of (my) unwilling mistakes might have caused pains to some,' Mr Fakhruddin, a former central banker whose official title is chief adviser, also said.

His army-backed government took control in January 2007 amidst political violence, cancelling a scheduled election. It brought a measure of order but suspended many rights.

For now government security forces were concentrating on trying to guarantee voter safety on Monday.

'Perhaps we have taken the toughest ever security precautions to ensure that balloting takes place peacefully, free from rigging, intimidation and threats,' Mr Noor Mohammad, Inspector-General of Police, told reporters on Sunday.

The government has deployed 50,000 troops, 75,000 police and 6,000 members of the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

'We have imposed blanket security for the political leaders, candidates, poll officials and voters all over the country,' Mr Hasan Mahmud Khandoker, chief of the RAB, told Reuters on Sunday.

Foreign monitors
Aside from violence, Bangladesh elections have often seen widespread cheating and fraud, but for Monday election rolls have been cleaned up, picture IDs provided, and 200,000 local and 2,000 foreign monitors assigned to check procedures.

In a national broadcast on Sunday night, Chief Election Commissioner A.T.M. Shamsul Huda asked people to turn out at the polls, saying they could trust the country's first digitised voters' list and other measures to ensure an honest vote.

'There would be no scope for any party or candidate to intimidate voters during and after the polls,' he said.

'We now hope that election day itself will pass off peacefully,' said Mr Cassam Uteem, Commonwealth Observer Group head.

'Once the result is known, it is vital that both the victor and the loser ... work together in the interest of the country.'

In final broadcast speeches on Saturday, top candidates Hasina and Khaleda both said it was time to end confrontational politics marked by strikes and violent street protests.

But at mass rallies they accused each other of corruption, vote-rigging and incompetence in heated rhetoric that has analysts worried about post-poll violence from the losing side.

Local media and observers generally give Ms Hasina a plus in the voting, but predicting a precise outcome is difficult.

Bengali weekly Kagoj said on Sunday Ms Hasina's 'grand alliance' may win 170 of 300 parliament seats, while Professor Sirajul Islam Chowdhury of Dhaka University did not rule out a hung parliament. 'Support of independent legislators may be crucial for either woman if the election is close,' he said.

Ms Hasina and Ms Khaleda alternated in power for 15 years through 2006. Analysts say their policy differences are small and to attract much needed investment and aid what matters is less who wins than stability and peace once the results are in.

In a sign of the desperate economic situation of many Bangladeshis the winner must deal with, the Indian coast guard said on Sunday about 300 illegal migrants, most from Bangladesh, were feared dead after they jumped from a boat and tried to swim ashore in India's remote Andaman islands. -- REUTERS