Dhaka - Bangladesh's Awami League-led alliance of former premier Sheikh Hasina Wazed won a landslide victory in Monday's general elections, officials said Tuesday.

The election was held to return Bangladesh to a democratic system ending two years of rule by a military-backed administration, installed in early 2007 in the wake of violence amid a power struggle between major political forces of the impoverished South Asian nation.

According to the country's election commission, the Awami League-led electoral alliance bagged 262 out of 299 parliamentary seats while its main rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance, won only 32 seats.

Independent candidates secured four seats, while the Liberal Democratic Party secured just one parliamentary seat in Monday's polls, which local and international observers termed peaceful and credible.

Elections for one seat in the 300-seat parliament were suspended because of the death of a candidate.

The Awami League alone secured 230 seats. Its allies - the Jatiya Party of former military dictator Hussein Muhammad Ershad won 27 seats, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal three and the Workers Party of Bangladesh two.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which led an alliance that won than 200 seats in the 2001 elections, won only 29 seats this time. Its right-wing ally, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, a religion-based party, got two seats and the Bangladesh Jatiya Party got one.

The BNP-led alliance claimed that it had evidence of "massive" irregularities in the elections.

The European Union, which deployed a 150-strong election observation mission, expressed satisfaction with Monday's electoral process.

The chief of the mission, Alexander Lambsdorff, said the counting was conducted in an accurate, professional manner which was in keeping with international standards. "I'm impressed with the accuracy and professionalism (of the) ballot counting. If the trend continues throughout the country, it would be highly satisfactory," he told reporters.

Monday's polls were monitored by more than 250,000 election observers from Bangladesh and abroad. Balloting was generally peaceful, observers said.

There was a festive atmosphere during the landmark poll, as voters turned out in high numbers amid tight security to elect a new democratic government.

Officials said Bangladeshis were generally enthusiastic to cast their votes despite reports of a few violent incidents that reportedly left at least 20 people injured.

The election was originally scheduled for January 2007, but was postponed following the declaration of a state of emergency in the wake of political violence. The country has been under the rule of a military-backed caretaker government since then.

As many as 650,000 police and army officers guarded polling booths to prevent violence. (dpa)