Bangladesh Prepares for National Polls

The polls will end nearly two years of army-backed rule and hand over power to an elected government.

Bangladesh has been run by a caretaker government, which cancelled elections in January 2007 and imposed a state of emergency, after months of political violence brought the country to a standstill.

Since then, the government has pushed through key electoral reforms and compiled a photo-based voter list, which has eliminated nearly 13 million fake voters.

There has also been a nationwide crackdown on corruption over the past two years.