Politics of Bangladesh takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Bangladesh is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The Constitution of Bangladesh was written in 1972 and has undergone seventeen amendments.
Begum Khaleda Zia is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996, and again from June 2001 to October 2006. She was the first female prime minister of Bangladesh and second female prime minister in the Muslim world, after Benazir Bhutto. She is the widow of former president of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman. She is the chairperson and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since 1984, which was founded by her late husband in 1978.
The Bangladesh Awami League, often simply called the Awami League or AL, is one of the major political parties in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, Awami League successfully lead Bangladesh to the independence. One of the two most dominant parties in the country, along with its archrival Bangladesh Nationalist Party, it has been the ruling party since 2009, and has since been described as authoritarian.
The prime minister of Bangladesh, officially prime minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh is the chief executive of the government of Bangladesh. The prime minister and the cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Parliament, to their political party and ultimately to the electorate. The prime minister is ceremonially appointed by the president of Bangladesh.
The Jatiya Sangsad, often simply referred to as Sangsad and also known as the House of the Nation, is the supreme legislative body of Bangladesh. The current parliament of Bangladesh contains 350 seats, including 50 seats reserved exclusively for women. Elected occupants are called members of Parliament, or MPs. The 12th national parliamentary election was held on 7 January 2024. Elections to the body are held every five years, unless a parliament is dissolved earlier by the president of Bangladesh.
Sheikh Hasina Wazed is a Bangladeshi politician who has served as the tenth prime minister of Bangladesh from June 1996 to July 2001 and again since January 2009. She is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father and first president of Bangladesh. Having served for a combined total of over 19 years, she is the longest serving prime minister in the history of Bangladesh. As of 27 April 2024, she is the world's longest-serving female head of government.
Hussain Muhammad Ershad was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the president of Bangladesh from 1983 to 1990, heading a military dictatorship.
The Workers Party of Bangladesh is a communist party in Bangladesh. Rashed Khan Menon is the president of the Workers Party of Bangladesh and Anisur Rahman Mollik is the general secretary of the party.
Bangladesh elects on national level a legislature with one house or chamber. The unicameral Jatiyo Sangshad, meaning national parliament, has 350 members of which 300 members are directly elected through a national election for a five-year term in single-seat constituencies while 50 memberships are reserved for the women who are selected by the ruling party or coalition. The Prime Minister is the head of the government. The president who is the head of the state is elected by the National Parliament. The president of Bangladesh is a ceremonial post and does not exercise any control over the running of the state.
The Jatiya Party is a centre-right, conservative, nationalist political party in Bangladesh and is currently the main opposition in the Jatiya Sangsad, against the Awami League. The current chairman of the party is Begum Rowshan Ershad. On 3 January 2019, the party announced its decision to join the Bangladesh Awami League-led Grand Alliance after having been in opposition for the previous parliamentary term. However, the party backtracked the next day and announced that it intended to remain part of the opposition. Currently, it holds Rangpur out of Bangladesh's 12 city corporations.
General elections were held in Bangladesh on 29 December 2008. The two main parties in the election were the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Khaleda Zia, and the Bangladesh Awami League Party, led by Sheikh Hasina. The Bangladesh Awami League Party formed a fourteen-party Grand Alliance including Ershad's Jatiya Party, while the BNP formed a four-party alliance which included the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami. The election was originally scheduled for January 2007, but it was postponed by a military-controlled caretaker government for an extended period of time.
General elections were held in Bangladesh on 27 February 1991. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) emerged as the largest party in parliament, winning 140 of the 300 directly elected seats. The BNP formed a government with the support of the Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami, and on 20 March Khaleda Zia was sworn in for her first term as Prime Minister.
General elections were held in Bangladesh on 12 June 1996. The result was a victory for the Bangladesh Awami League, which won 146 of the 300 directly elected seats, beginning Sheikh Hasina's first-term as Prime Minister. Voter turnout was 74.96%, the highest to date. This election was the second to be held in 1996, following controversial elections held in February a few months earlier.
The history of Bangladesh (1971–present) refers to the period after the independence of Bangladesh from Pakistan.
The Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh is the central executive government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Constitution of Bangladesh consisting the executive represented by the president, prime minister and cabinet. The legislature represented by the Jatiya Sangsad and the judiciary, represented by the Supreme Court. Bangladesh is a unitary state and the central government has the authority to govern over the entirety of the nation. The seat of the government is located in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
The Khelafat Majlish, also spelt Khelafat Majlis, is a far-right Islamist political party in Bangladesh. The party was founded in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, in 1989 by Deobandi scholar Azizul Haque along with Ahmad Abdul Qadir and former leaders of the National Awami Party and Tamaddun Majlish. Since its founding, it has only ever gained one seat in the country's National Parliament. The party split into two in 2005, with Azizul Haque's faction taking the name Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish.
General elections were held in Bangladesh on 5 January 2014, in accordance with the constitutional requirement that elections must take place within the 90-day period before the expiration of the term of the Jatiya Sangshad on 24 January 2014.
General elections were held in Bangladesh on 30 December 2018 to elect 300 directly-elected members of the Jatiya Sangsad. The result was another landslide victory for the Awami League-led Grand Alliance led by Sheikh Hasina. The elections were marred by violence, and were widely considered by opposition politicians and the international community to be rigged.
Rajshahi-5 is a constituency represented in the Jatiya Sangsad of Bangladesh since 2024 by Md. Abdul Wadud of the Awami League.
General elections were held in Bangladesh on 7 January 2024 in accordance with the current constitutional requirement, stating that elections must take place within the 90-day period before the expiration of the current term of the Jatiya Sangsad on 29 January 2024. The Awami League, led by incumbent Sheikh Hasina, won the election for the fourth consecutive time with less than 40% of the eligible voters voting according to an Election Commission, which is run by the ruling political party. The party won 224 seats while independent candidates, most of whom were Awami League members propped up as dummy candidates to give a semblance of competition, won 62 seats.
