They held a general election in Bangladesh in February, but nobody came. Nobody, that is, except for supporters of Begum Khaleda Zia, the incumbent Prime Minister, who won 99% of the seats in Parliament. The other main parties boycotted because they were certain the election would be rigged. Khaleda's second term lasted exactly eight days before public protests forced her to resign and schedule a new round of balloting.

That was held last week, and this time a whole lot of people showed up: voter participation was 73%, the highest ever in any national election. "This is important," insisted Zaheda Begum, a homemaker, who arrived at her local polling station in Dhaka, the capital, at 8 a.m., dressed in her best. "We need to see a peaceful land."

That was the kind of determined, hopeful spirit that swept Bangladesh last week, suggesting that the poor, alluvial land might finally be putting down some democratic roots. This was Bangladesh's second truly free electoral exercise--the first was in 1991--and people from all segments of society were obviously eager to make something of it. A large number wanted to force Khaleda into the opposition, and in that they succeeded. On Thursday, victory was claimed by the Prime Minister's political nemesis, Sheik Hasina Wazed, although her party, the Awami League, failed to clinch a majority of the 300-member Parliament. It won 133 seats, a number likely to rise this week when repolling is completed in 28 constituencies. Hasina is expected to be sworn in as Prime Minister shortly afterward, and she announced last week that her first priority will be to calm the social and economic turmoil created by the bitter and extended political confrontation between herself and Khaleda. "We will run the administration of the country on the basis of national consensus," she declared. "We will heal wounds, not create new ones; unite the nation, not divide it."

For one of the world's poorest countries (per capita GDP: $260), the elections provided an unusually upbeat week, with high spirits evident everywhere. Women dressed in their most colorful saris, shops closed, traffic was light and street strolling heavy. "We are in a festival mood," proclaimed Mohammad Habibur Rahman, who became temporary Prime Minister, or caretaker, after Khaleda stepped down. Dulal Shaha, a yarn vendor, has lost $1,000 in earnings during the past two years thanks to the ceaseless antigovernment strikes, or hartals, led by Hasina. But he was eager to vote. "By the hartals," he explained, "we are getting this fair election."

The main importance of the election was that it was held at all. Aside from 1991, political power in Bangladesh has changed hands only through assassination and military coup. The country's first Prime Minister, Sheik Mujibur Rahman, was gunned down in his home in 1975 along with 15 relatives. Hasina, his daughter, survived because she was on holiday in Germany. The Prime Minister-to-be lived in the house where the slaughter took place until last year, when it was converted into a museum. Khaleda's husband, former President Ziaur Rahman, met a similar fate six years later. Tanks did appear briefly on the streets of Dhaka last month, and many thought a coup was imminent. Details are vague, but the incident appears to have been a minor military revolt sparked by conflict between President Abdur Rahman Biswas and army Chief Lieut. General Abu Saleh Mohammad Nasim. A commission is investigating.

But most recent developments have been peaceful and positive. Khaleda, during her brief new term, was forced to pass a constitutional amendment requiring Prime Ministers to surrender power before elections to a neutral caretaker regime. Perhaps most important, Bangladeshis were proud because they had taken to the streets to demand the election. "Now politicians are afraid of the people," says yarn-shop owner Shaha. "If they do bad for the people, we won't elect them again." Former U.S. Congressman Stephen Solarz, one of 264 foreign observers agrees: "It's probably the most important election in the history of the country."

Whether a new government achieves stability and allows such key industries as garment making to return to normal depends entirely on the two begums, or ladies of high rank. Ideologies don't separate them, but the desire to rule does. When Khaleda became Prime Minister in 1991, Hasina gave her only three years before she stormed out of the Parliament with her party mates and launched the antigovernment strikes. The tables are now turned, and Khaleda could do the same thing. But Bangladeshis were too happy to be worried about that last week: even if they get a pendulum of political strife, at least the pendulum is swinging. --Reported by Dick Thompson/Dhaka