Bangladesh ? Bangladesh’s first election in seven years was called largely free, fair and the most peaceful in decades, but the bitter feelings between the two women who have dominated politics re-emerged as the loser rejected her archrival’s win.

This week’s vote returned former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to power in a landslide. But her rival’s accusation of vote fraud indicated Hasina will find it difficult to escape paralyzing power struggles in a country long plagued by corruption and misrule. Both women faced recent corruption charges.

“It is a farcical election,” Khaleda Zia, also a former prime minister, said in a televised news conference early today, claiming the results did not reflect the people’s opinion.

Hasina, however, offered to work with Zia.