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This article is part of a series on the |
Politics of Bangladesh |
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Bangladeshportal |
The next general elections in Bangladesh are expected to take place to elect members of the 13th Jatiya Sangsad, following the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina's government by student-led protests, and the implementation of constitutional and institutional reforms by the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus. A constituent assembly election will take place before the general elections, [1] The interim government has established a Constitutional Reform Commission for this purpose.
The 12th Sangsad was dissolved by President Mohammed Shahabuddin following the resignation of Sheikh Hasina. [2] In June 2024, student protests erupted throughout the country, demanding the reform of quotas in government jobs. The protests were met with brutal crackdown by law-enforcement agencies and paramilitary forces, resulting in the deaths of many students. By August, the protests intensified into large-scale civil unrest against the government which eventually culminated in Hasina's resignation on 5 August.
Following negotiations between student leaders and the Armed Forces, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was appointed as Chief Adviser to head an interim government with a view to leading the country to new elections. [3]
The Awami League won the January 2024 general elections following a record low voter turnout and a controversial election, spite of which they formed a government. [4] The United States Department of State, in a statement, said that the election was not free and fair [5] and the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office termed the election lacking the preconditions of democracy. [6] According to The Economist , through this election, "Bangladesh effectively became a one-party state". [7]
The main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), demanded that the government hand over power to a neutral caretaker government before the January 2024 elections. [8] This was rejected by Hasina, who vowed that "Bangladesh will never allow an unelected government again". [9] Hasina's resistance to a caretaker government arose following the 2006–2008 crisis, during which a caretaker government assumed military control of the country and arrested a number of political leaders, including Hasina and Khaleda Zia. [10] Zia was sentenced to prison for five years on February 8, 2018, for her involvement in the Zia Orphanage corruption case. [11] The sentence was then modified to 10 years. [12] Zia’s successor as chair of the party, her son Tarique Rahman, was also found guilty of criminal conspiracy and multiple counts of murder for a grenade attack in 2004 that injured Hasina and killed 24 people. [13] He was sentenced to life in prison. As such, he was barred from running for office. [14] Zia was released by the President of Bangladesh following Hasina's resignation. [15]
The 350 members of the Jatiya Sangsad consist of 300 directly elected seats using first-past-the-post voting (FPTP) in single-member constituencies, and an additional 50 seats reserved for women. The reserved seats are elected proportionally by the elected members. Each parliament sits for a five-year term. [16] The electoral system has been criticised as disproportional [17] [18] [19] and a key driver of political deadlock in the country. [19] Some of the leading minor parties, including Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Andolan Bangladesh, Communist Party of Bangladesh, Gono Odhikar Parishad, Amar Bangladesh Party etc., had been in staunch opposition to the system and in support of proportional representation (PR), where Bangladesh Nationalist Party remains a supporter of FPTP. [20] [21] [22] [23]
Alliance/Party | Flag | Leader | Seats Contested | Seats Contested under Alliance | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GA | AL | Sheikh Hasina | |||||||
JaSaD | Hasanul Haque Inu | ||||||||
WPB | Rashed Khan Menon | ||||||||
GP | Arosh Ali | ||||||||
JP(M) | Anwar Hossain Manju | ||||||||
BTF | Syed Najibul Bashar Maizbhandari | ||||||||
BSD-ML | Dilip Barua | ||||||||
JF | BKP | Syed Muhammad Ibrahim | |||||||
BJP(M) | Mohammed Abdul Muqit | ||||||||
BML(B) | Sheikh Zulfiqar Bulbul Chowdhury | ||||||||
LDA | CPB | Shah Alam | |||||||
BaSaD | Bazlur Rashid Firoz | ||||||||
RCLB | Mosharraf Hossain Nannu | ||||||||
BaSaD–M | Mubinul Haider Chowdhury | ||||||||
GM | JSD(R) | A.S.M. Abdur Rab | |||||||
RWPB | Saiful Haq | ||||||||
GSA | Zonayed Saki | ||||||||
JP(E) | GM Quader | – | |||||||
ZP | Mustafa Amir Faisal | – | |||||||
TBNP | Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury | – | |||||||
BKSJL | Kader Siddique | – | |||||||
BDB | A. Q. M. Badruddoza Chowdhury | – | |||||||
GF | Kamal Hossain | – | |||||||
BNP | Khaleda Zia | – | |||||||
IAB | Rezaul Karim | – | |||||||
BJP | Andaleeve Rahman | – | |||||||
LDP | Oli Ahmed | – | |||||||
Jamaat | Shafiqur Rahman | – | |||||||
ABP | Abdul Wohab | – | |||||||
GOP | Nurul Haq Nur | – |
Polling agency | Date published | Sample size | Margin of error | AL | JP(E) | BNP | IAB | Jamaat | Student supported–New Party | Others | Independents | None | "Can't say"/Undecided | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bangladesh Speaks | September 2024 | 5,115 (field) | ± 1.4% | 5% | 1% | 21% | 3% | 14% | 10% | 1% | 3% | 2% | 38% | 7% |
3,581 (online) | ± 1.67% | 10% | 0% | 10% | 1% | 25% | 35% | 1% | 3% | 3% | 11% | 10% | ||
Average | 7.5% | 0.5% | 15.5% | 2% | 19.5% | 22.5% | 1% | 3% | 2.5% | 24.5% | 3% |
Polling agency | Date published | Sample size | Margin of error | AL | JP(E) | BNP | IAB | Jamaat | Others | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Polling agency | Date published | Sample size | Margin of error | AL | JP(E) | BNP | IAB | Jamaat | Others | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Polling agency | Date published | Sample size | Margin of error | AL | JP(E) | BNP | IAB | Jamaat | Others | Lead |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | |
---|---|
Awami League | |
Jatiya Party (Ershad) | |
Bangladesh Nationalist Party | |
Islami Andolan Bangladesh | |
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami | |
Other parties | |
Independents | |
Total |
Party | Seats | Votes | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Contested | Won | +/– | In total | Average | ||||
% | +/–pp | |||||||
AL | ||||||||
JP(E) | ||||||||
BNP | ||||||||
IAB | ||||||||
Jamaat-e-Islami | ||||||||
Others | ||||||||
IND | ||||||||
Total | ||||||||
Valid Votes | ||||||||
Invalid Votes | ||||||||
Total Votes Cast | ||||||||
Registered/Turnout | ||||||||
Source: | ||||||||
Party | Seats | Votes | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Contested | Won | +/– | In total | Average | ||||
% | +/–pp | |||||||
AL | ||||||||
JP(E) | ||||||||
BNP | ||||||||
IAB | ||||||||
Jamaat-e-Islami | ||||||||
Others | ||||||||
IND | ||||||||
Total | ||||||||
Valid Votes | ||||||||
Invalid Votes | ||||||||
Total Votes Cast | ||||||||
Registered/Turnout | ||||||||
Source: | ||||||||
Party | Seats | Votes | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Contested | Won | +/– | In total | Average | ||||
% | +/–pp | |||||||
AL | ||||||||
JP(E) | ||||||||
BNP | ||||||||
IAB | ||||||||
Jamaat-e-Islami | ||||||||
Others | ||||||||
IND | ||||||||
Total | ||||||||
Valid Votes | ||||||||
Invalid Votes | ||||||||
Total Votes Cast | ||||||||
Registered/Turnout | ||||||||
Source: | ||||||||
Party | Seats | Votes | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Contested | Won | +/– | In total | Average | ||||
% | +/–pp | |||||||
AL | ||||||||
JP(E) | ||||||||
BNP | ||||||||
IAB | ||||||||
Jamaat-e-Islami | ||||||||
Others | ||||||||
IND | ||||||||
Total | ||||||||
Valid Votes | ||||||||
Invalid Votes | ||||||||
Total Votes Cast | ||||||||
Registered/Turnout | ||||||||
Source: | ||||||||
Party | Seats | Votes | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Contested | Won | +/– | In total | Average | ||||
% | +/–pp | |||||||
AL | ||||||||
JP(E) | ||||||||
BNP | ||||||||
IAB | ||||||||
Jamaat-e-Islami | ||||||||
Others | ||||||||
IND | ||||||||
Total | ||||||||
Valid Votes | ||||||||
Invalid Votes | ||||||||
Total Votes Cast | ||||||||
Registered/Turnout | ||||||||
Source: | ||||||||
Party | Seats | Votes | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Contested | Won | +/– | In total | Average | ||||
% | +/–pp | |||||||
AL | ||||||||
JP(E) | ||||||||
BNP | ||||||||
IAB | ||||||||
Jamaat-e-Islami | ||||||||
Others | ||||||||
IND | ||||||||
Total | ||||||||
Valid Votes | ||||||||
Invalid Votes | ||||||||
Total Votes Cast | ||||||||
Registered/Turnout | ||||||||
Source: | ||||||||
Party | Seats | Votes | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Contested | Won | +/– | In total | Average | ||||
% | +/–pp | |||||||
AL | ||||||||
JP(E) | ||||||||
BNP | ||||||||
IAB | ||||||||
Jamaat-e-Islami | ||||||||
Others | ||||||||
IND | ||||||||
Total | ||||||||
Valid Votes | ||||||||
Invalid Votes | ||||||||
Total Votes Cast | ||||||||
Registered/Turnout | ||||||||
Source: | ||||||||
Party | Seats | Votes | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Contested | Won | +/– | In total | Average | ||||
% | +/–pp | |||||||
AL | ||||||||
JP(E) | ||||||||
BNP | ||||||||
IAB | ||||||||
Jamaat-e-Islami | ||||||||
Others | ||||||||
IND | ||||||||
Total | ||||||||
Valid Votes | ||||||||
Invalid Votes | ||||||||
Total Votes Cast | ||||||||
Registered/Turnout | ||||||||
Source: | ||||||||
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.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party is a major political party in Bangladesh. Founded on 1 September 1978 by Bangladeshi president Ziaur Rahman with a view of uniting people with a nationalist ideology, BNP later became one of the two dominant parties in Bangladesh, along with its archrival Awami League. Initially a big tent centrist party, it later moved towards more right-wing politics.
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.
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.
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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 Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and on 20 March Khaleda Zia was sworn in for her first term as Prime Minister.
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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.
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An interim government led by the Shahabuddin Ahmed ministry was formed on 9 December 1990 in Bangladesh, following President HM Ershad's resignation on 6 December in the face of a mass uprising against his regime. Shahabuddin had taken office as the acting president of the country after he was unanimously agreed upon by the leaders of all political parties to be ceremoniously appointed by Ershad just before resigning as vice-president in place of Moudud Ahmed. He administered the oath of office to his council of advisers at Bangabhaban on 9 December 1990. During this period, he gave back freedom of the press by amending a number of law including the Special Powers Act.
General elections were held in Bangladesh on 7 January 2024 in accordance with the 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 10% 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.
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General elections are held in Bangladesh to elect members of the Jatiya Sangsad, the unicameral national parliament. The Jatiya Sangsad consists of 300 members elected by first-past-the-post voting in single-member constituencies and 50 seats reserved for women, which are allocated based on the proportional vote share received by parties. Elections are overseen by the Bangladesh Election Commission.
The fifth inauguration of Sheikh Hasina as Prime Minister of Bangladesh took place on 11 January 2024, after Hasina and her party won the 2024 Bangladeshi general election. The oath of office was administered by President Mohammed Shahabuddin. The Fifth Hasina ministry was formed. The 12th Jatiya Sangsad was also formed. Following the Non-cooperation movement, Hasina resigned from office and fled to India. This led to Muhammad Yunus being sworn in as Chief Adviser on 8 August. As of 6 August, she has been living in a secret location under tight security in India.
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