A day after winning re-election, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina rejected opposition claims that the vote was rigged.
Speaking to reporters and election observers at her official residence in Dhaka on Monday, Hasina dismissed questions about the fairness of the vote, saying that the opposition lacked leadership and did not campaign actively enough.
"The election was totally free and independent. There is no doubt about it," Hasina said.
She also rejected claims that her party workers intimidated the opposition.
"My conscience is very clear," she said.
Chief Election Commissioner K.M. Nurul Huda said there would not be a re-vote as the opposition has demanded. He said there were no reports of large voting irregularities.
Hasina, 71, won a third-straight term in Sunday's election, with the alliance led by her Awami League winning at least 288 of 300 seats. The vote is still being counted in several districts.
An opposition alliance led by Kamal Hossain won at least seven seats, according to the Election Commission.
Hossain called Sunday's election "farcical" and demanded a new election held under a neutral authority.
Opponents have criticized reports of voter intimidation and "irregularities" in the election.
Violence between the ruling and opposition parties, which marred the election campaigns, carried on into election day, despite heavy security throughout the country.
Thirteen people were killed in clashes between opposing party supporters. Three men were shot by police who said they were protecting polling stations, according to police. An auxiliary police member was also killed by armed opposition activists, according to the French Press Agency.
Voter turnout in the country of 165 million people was low in the first fully competitive general election in a decade.
Hasina's main rival, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, is in prison on corruption charges. A court banned her from running.
In Zia's absence, opposition parties formed a coalition led by Hossain, an 82-year-old Oxford-educated lawyer and former member of Hasina's Awami League Party.
