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 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 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 one of the 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 husband in 1978.
Bangladesh Awami League, simply known as Awami League, is one of the major political parties in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achieving the independence of Bangladesh. It is also one of the two most dominant parties in the country, along with its archrival Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
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.
Sheikh Hasina is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Bangladesh from June 1996 to July 2001 and again from January 2009 to August 2024. She is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh. She served in the position of prime minister for over 20 years, making her the longest-serving prime minister in history of Bangladesh. Thus, she became the world's longest-serving female head of government. Her authoritarian regime ended in self-imposed exile following an uprising in 2024.
The bilateral relations between the neighboring People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Republic of India, formally began in 1971 with India's recognition of an independent Bangladesh following India's military intervention helping Bangladesh secure independence following the Bangladesh Liberation War.
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.
The history of Bangladesh (1971–present) refers to the period after the independence of Bangladesh from Pakistan.
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 Waker-Uz-Zaman SBP OSP SGP psc is a four star general of the Bangladesh Army who is the current Chief of Army Staff (CAS) of the Bangladesh Army since 23 June 2024. Prior to his appointment as CAS, he served as the Chief of General Staff (CGS) of the Bangladesh Army. He is also the Colonel Commandant of Army Service Corps. Previously, he served as the 15th Principal Staff Officer of Armed Forces Division.
The Bangladesh protests of 2022–24 were a series of anti-government demonstrations against the administration of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Initiated by the Bangladeshi opposition parties on 10 December 2022, the protests continued in spite of the government crackdowns. Though initially low-level, with instances of vandalism in late 2023, the movement gained momentum in 2024. The protests became linked to the Student–People's uprising, as both shared similar objectives related to government accountability and systemic change. In July 2024, the unrest intensified and turned into a civil disinvestment movement, ultimately leading to Hasina's resignation and eventual exile from the country.
Mohammed Shahabuddin, natively known as Chuppu, is a Bangladeshi jurist, civil servant and politician who has served as the 16th and current president of Bangladesh since 2023. He was elected unopposed in the 2023 presidential election as the nominee of the ruling Awami League. Prior to his presidency, Shahabuddin served as a district and sessions judge and a commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission from 2011 to 2016.
The following is a list of scheduled and expected events for the year 2024 in Bangladesh. 2024 (MMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2024th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 24th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 5th year of the 2020s decade.
The non-cooperation movement, also known as the one-point movement, was a pro-democratic disinvestment movement and a mass uprising against the Awami League-led government of Bangladesh, initiated within the framework of 2024 Bangladesh quota reform movement. The sole demand of this movement was the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her cabinet. It was the final stage of the wider movement known as the Student–People's uprising or the July Revolution. Although the movement was initially limited to the goal of reforming quotas in government jobs, it snowballed into a mass anti-government uprising after the deaths of several protesters. The movement was also fueled by ongoing socio-economic and political issues, including the government's mismanagement of the national economy, rampant corruption by government officials, human rights violations, allegations of undermining the country's sovereignty by Sheikh Hasina, and increasing authoritarianism and democratic backsliding.
The leadership of Muhammad Yunus began on 8 August 2024 when he was sworn in as the Chief Adviser of Bangladesh by President Mohammed Shahabuddin. In August 2024, after the resignation of Sheikh Hasina as prime minister and her departure to India following the Student–People's uprising, the key coordinators of the uprising announced that Yunus would be Chief Adviser of the interim government. The main pledge of this government is organise a constituent assembly to draft and adopt a new, inclusive, democratic constitution, ensuring the inviolability of human dignity.
The Students–People's uprising, also known as the July Revolution, was a pro-democracy mass uprising in Bangladesh. It began as a quota reform movement in early June 2024, led by the Anti-discrimination Students Movement, after the Bangladesh Supreme Court invalidated the government's 2018 circular regarding job quotas in the public sector. The movement escalated into a full-fledged mass uprising after the government carried out mass killings of protesters, known as the July massacre, by late July. By early August, the movement evolved into a non-cooperation movement, ultimately leading to the ouster of the then-prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, who fled Bangladesh to India. Hasina's ouster triggered a constitutional crisis, leading to the formation of an interim government led by the country's only Nobel laureate, Muhammad Yunus, as the chief adviser.
A constitutional crisis emerged in Bangladesh on 5 August 2024, after the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, resigned and fled the country to India as protesters stormed her residence and office in Dhaka during a massive mass uprising. Hasina's flight to India triggered the constitutional crisis because the existing constitution has no provisions for an interim government or any other form of government in the event that the prime minister resigns and the parliament is dissolved. Although Article 123 of the constitution mandates general elections within 90 days following the dissolution of parliament, no clear guidelines exist for the powers and structure of an interim government.
The 2024 Bangladesh Presidential resignation protests are an ongoing protest demanding President Mohammed Shahabuddin's resignation stem from his controversial remarks following the resignation of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Protesters accuse Shahabuddin of siding with authoritarian forces, fueling dissatisfaction among students and civil society groups.
Sheikh Hasina's tenure as Prime Minister of Bangladesh began on 23 June 1996, when she assumed office after her party, the Awami League, won the general election, succeeding Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Her first term lasted until 15 July 2001. She returned to office on 6 January 2009 following her party’s landslide victory in the 2008 general election and had further electoral wins in 2014, 2018 and 2024 general elections, though these elections was widely criticised for lacking transparency, with opposition parties boycotting those elections and international observers alleging vote manipulation and suppression.
Following the resignation of Sheikh Hasina as a result of Student–People's uprising, disinformation about attacks on religious minorities, especially Hindus, was spread by Hasina's supporters and India's Hindu right-wing. The themes include misleading or exaggerated reports on the post-resignation violence against Bangladesh's Hindu community and discrediting the backgrounds or activities of the cabinet members of interim government of Bangladesh. Sensationalist television channels in India attempted to portray the uprising as an Islamist-backed military takeover of the country, purportedly orchestrated by India's rivals, Pakistan & China.
