Elections in Bangladesh

Scene from a polling booth in Bangladesh

Elections in Bangladesh gives information on election and election results in Bangladesh.

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 he/she does not exercise any control over the running of the state.

Bangladesh has an unofficial two-party system which has evolved over time since the election of 1991. It means that there are two dominant political parties or coalitions, with extreme difficulty for anybody to achieve electoral success under the banner of any other party in terms is single majority.

Latest national election

Main article: Bangladeshi general election, 2008

See also: Bangladesh Election Commission

The general elections will be held on 29 December 2008 under the military-controlled interim government headed by Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed. The state of emergency declared in early 2007 was lifted on 16 December. Many national and foreign electoral observation missions have been allowed to operate. The official Election Commission website contains elections-related information, but a far better source for news, views and other resources, such as interactive maps, is the New Age Election Portal (newagebd.com/election).

Election of 2001

Main article: Bangladeshi general election, 2001

 Summary of the 1 October 2001 Bangladesh Jatiyo Sangshad election results

Parties	Votes	%	Seats
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Dal)	23,074,714	41.40	193
Bangladesh Awami League	22,310,276	40.02	62
Jatiya Party (Ershad) Includes candidates of the Islamic National Unity Front (Islami Jatiya Oikya Front)	4,023,962	7.22	14
Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh	2,385,361	4.28	17
Jatiya Party (Naziur)	521,472	0.94	4
Islami Oikya Jote	312,868	0.56	2
Krishak Shramik Janata League	261,344	0.47	2
Jatiya Party (Manju)	243,617	0.44	1
Non-partisan and others	2,262,045	4.06	6
vacant		-	2
Total (turnout 74.9 %)	55,728,162	100.0	300
Rejected votes	441,871
Total votes	56,169,233
Registered voters	74,951,319
Source: Bangladesh Election Commission through Adam Carr and Daily Star

Template:Bangladesh Parliamentary Election Result of 2001 Members of 8th Parliament of Bangladesh

See also

• Electoral calendar
• Electoral system
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Bangladesh

External links

• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• Bangladeshi Electoral Commission