The Election Commission has said 40% of votes were cast across Bangladesh during the 12th national elections on Sunday.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal disclosed the information at a polls briefing held at the Agargaon Election Commission (EC) building.
The turnout may increase as people were still coming to centres at the time of the briefing, and no major violence was reported across the country, he added.
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There were no deaths due to violence. Two officials died due to cardiac arrest, according to the CEC.
“We fear that voter turnout will be low as an opposition party conducted a negative campaign against elections,” he said.
“The administration's bias did not appear in this election, while EC officials, district officials and other law enforcement agencies worked tirelessly to keep the situation normal and peaceful," Kazi Habibul Awal added.
"We have said previously that elections are possible under a party government, despite challenges."
However, the election was conducted in a free, fair and impartial manner with joint efforts from the government and the Election Commission.
Talking about the election's acceptability, the CEC said it depends on the evaluation of the public and the media when the final results are published.
In terms of transparency the observations of the commission and the media are very similar, he said.
Earlier in the day, the CEC went to the Habibullah Bahar College Centre in Shantinagar of the capital at 8:35am to cast his vote.
Afterwards, he called upon journalists to highlight the visibility and transparency of voting to overcome the lack of trust of the general public.
"I have just cast my vote… I would request you to bring up the visibility and transparency of voting; if there is any mistrust among people about voting, it will be removed,” he told reporters.
In response to a journalist's question regarding low voter turnout, the CEC said: "I don't know anything about voter turnout being low or high… I just came and cast my vote. If there is any problem, I will see it.”
In response to a question about violence, he said: "I am not thinking about it at all… My responsibility is to hold the election. The law enforcers will look into those matters.”