Election officials in Bangladesh began counting votes Sunday after people cast their ballots in an election boycotted by the opposition parties.

The polls, which took place amid incidents of serious political violence, looked guaranteed to give a fifth term in office to incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Hasina has presided over breakneck economic growth in a country once beset by grinding poverty, but her government has also been accused of rights abuses and a crackdown on the opposition.

Her party faced almost no effective rivals in the seats it contested but it avoided fielding candidates in a few constituencies, likely to avoid the legislature being branded a one-party institution.

"Vote counting has begun," election commission spokesman Shariful Alam told AFP late Sunday.

The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), whose ranks are in ruins over years of organizational mismanagements and high-profile arrests, called a general strike and urged the public not to participate in the "sham" election.

But Hasina, 76, called for citizens to cast their ballots and show their faith in the democratic process.

"The BNP is a terrorist organization," she told reporters after casting her vote.

"I am trying my best to ensure that democracy should continue in this country," she added.

Results are expected as early as Monday morning.

Initial signs suggested that turnout was low. At noon, according to Election Commission Secretary Jahangir Alam, turnout stood at 18.5%.

Many said they had not voted because the outcome was assured.

"When one party is participating and another is not, why would I go to vote?" said Mohammad Saidur, 31, who pulls a rickshaw.

"We all know who's going to win," said Farhana Manik, 27, a student.

BNP head Tarique Rahman, speaking from Britain where he lives in exile, said he worried about ballot stuffing.

"I fear that the election commission may increase voter turnout by using fake votes," he told the Agence France-Presse (AFP).