DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is poised to win a record fourth term in Sunday's elections, promising development as critics question whether economic success under her regime has come at the expense of the South Asian nation's fragile democracy.

Sunday's polls are the 11th since Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan in 1971, and pit 71-year-old Hasina against a united opposition helmed by Kamal Hossain, an 82-year-old Oxford-educated lawyer and former foreign minister. Absent from the race is former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, Hasina's arch-rival and the head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Courts ruled Zia couldn't run because she's serving a 17-year prison sentence for corruption.

Bangladesh boasts more than 104 million eligible voters.

Campaigning has been marred by allegations of mass opposition arrests and at least six deaths.