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The provisional government of the
new nation of Bangladesh was formed in Dhaka with Justice Abu Sayeed Choudhury as
President, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ("Mujib")--who was released from Pakistani
prison in early 1972--as Prime Minister.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, 1972-75
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman came to office
with immense personal popularity, but had difficulty transforming this popular support
into the political strength needed to function as head of government. The new
constitution, which came into force in December 1972, created a strong executive prime
minister, a largely ceremonial presidency, an independent judiciary, and a unicameral
legislature on a modified Westminster model. The 1972 constitution adopted as state policy
the Awami League's (AL) four basic principles of nationalism, secularism, socialism, and
democracy.
The first parliamentary elections
held under the 1972 constitution were in March 1973, with the Awami League winning a
massive majority. No other political party in Bangladesh's early years was able to
duplicate or challenge the League's broad-based appeal, membership, or organizational
strength. Relying heavily on experienced civil servants and members of the Awami League,
the new Bangladesh Government focused on relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of the
economy and society. Economic conditions remained precarious, however. In December 1974,
Mujib decided that continuing economic deterioration and mounting civil disorder required
strong measures. After proclaiming a state of emergency, Mujib used his parliamentary
majority to win a constitutional amendment limiting the powers of the legislative and
judicial branches, establishing an executive presidency, and instituting a one-party
system, the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (BAKSAL), which all members of
Parliament were obliged to join.
Despite some improvement in the
economic situation during the first half of 1975, implementation of promised political
reforms was slow, and criticism of government policies became increasingly centered on
Mujib. In August 1975, Mujib, and most of his family, were assassinated by mid-level army
officers. His daughter, Sheikh Hasina, happened to be out of the country. A new
government, headed by former Mujib associate Khandakar Moshtaque, was formed.
Ziaur Rahman, 1975-81
Successive military coups resulted
in the emergence of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ziaur Rahman ("Zia") as strongman.
He pledged the army's support to the civilian government headed by President Chief Justice
Sayem. Acting at Zia's behest, Sayem dissolved Parliament, promising fresh elections in
1977, and instituted martial law.
Acting behind the scenes of the
Martial Law Administration (MLA), Zia sought to invigorate government policy and
administration. While continuing the ban on political parties, he sought to revitalize the
demoralized bureaucracy, to begin new economic development programs, and to emphasize
family planning. In November 1976, Zia became Chief Martial Law Administrator (CMLA) and
assumed the presidency upon Sayem's retirement 5 months later, promising national
elections in 1978.
As President, Zia announced a
19-point program of economic reform and began dismantling the MLA. Keeping his promise to
hold elections, Zia won a 5-year term in June 1978 elections, with 76% of the vote. In
November 1978, his government removed the remaining restrictions on political party
activities in time for parliamentary elections in February 1979. These elections, which
were contested by more than 30 parties, marked the culmination of Zia's transformation of
Bangladesh's Government from the MLA to a democratically elected, constitutional one. The
AL and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), founded by Zia, emerged as the two major
parties. The constitution was again amended to provide for an executive prime minister
appointed by the president, and responsible to a parliamentary majority.
In May 1981, Zia was assassinated in
Chittagong by dissident elements of the military. The attempted coup never spread beyond
that city, and the major conspirators were either taken into custody or killed. In
accordance with the constitution, Vice President Justice Abdus Sattar was sworn in as
acting president. He declared a new national emergency and called for election of a new
president within 6 months--an election Sattar won as the BNP's candidate. President Sattar
sought to follow the policies of his predecessor and retained essentially the same
cabinet, but the army stepped in once again.
Hussain Mohammed Ershad, 1982-90
Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. H.M.
Ershad assumed power in a bloodless coup in March 1982. Like his predecessors, Ershad
suspended the constitution and--citing pervasive corruption, ineffectual government, and
economic mismanagement--declared martial law. The following year, Ershad assumed the
presidency, retaining his positions as army chief and CMLA. During most of 1984, Ershad
sought the opposition parties' participation in local elections under martial law. The
opposition's refusal to participate, however, forced Ershad to abandon these plans. Ershad
sought public support for his regime in a national referendum on his leadership in March
1985. He won overwhelmingly, although turnout was small. Two months later, Ershad held
elections for local council chairmen. Pro-government candidates won a majority of the
posts, setting in motion the President's ambitious decentralization program. Political
life was further liberalized in early 1986, and additional political rights, including the
right to hold large public rallies, were restored. At the same time, the Jatiya (People's)
Party, designed as Ershad's political vehicle for the transition from martial law, was
established.
Despite a boycott by the BNP, led by
President Zia's widow, Begum Khaleda Zia, parliamentary elections were held on schedule in
May 1986. The Jatiya Party won a modest majority of the 300 elected seats in the national
assembly. The participation of the Awami League--led by the late Prime Minister Mujib's
daughter, Sheikh Hasina Wajed--lent the elections some credibility, despite widespread
charges of voting irregularities.
Ershad resigned as Army Chief of
Staff and retired from military service in preparation for the presidential elections,
scheduled for October. Protesting that martial law was still in effect, both the BNP and
the AL refused to put up opposing candidates. Ershad easily outdistanced the remaining
candidates, taking 84% of the vote. Although Ershad's government claimed a turnout of more
than 50%, opposition leaders, and much of the foreign press, estimated a far lower
percentage and alleged voting irregularities.
Ershad continued his stated
commitment to lift martial law. In November 1986, his government mustered the necessary
two-thirds majority in the national assembly to amend the constitution and confirm the
previous actions of the martial law regime. The President then lifted martial law, and the
opposition parties took their elected seats in the national assembly.
In July 1987, however, after the
government hastily pushed through a controversial legislative bill to include military
representation on local administrative councils, the opposition walked out of Parliament.
Passage of the bill helped spark an opposition movement that quickly gathered momentum,
uniting Bangladesh's opposition parties for the first time. The government began to arrest
scores of opposition activists under the country's Special Powers Act of 1974. Despite
these arrests, opposition parties continued to organize protest marches and nationwide
strikes. After declaring a state of emergency, Ershad dissolved Parliament and scheduled
fresh elections for March 1988.
All major opposition parties refused
government overtures to participate in these polls, maintaining that the government was
incapable of holding free and fair elections. Despite the opposition boycott, the
government proceeded. The ruling Jatiya Party won 251 of the 300 seats. The Parliament,
while still regarded by the opposition as an illegitimate body, held its sessions as
scheduled, and passed a large number of bills, including, in June 1988, a controversial
constitutional amendment making Islam Bangladesh's state religion.
By 1989, the domestic political
situation in the country seemed to have quieted. The local council elections were
generally considered by international observers to have been less violent and more free
and fair than previous elections. However, opposition to Ershad's rule began to regain
momentum, escalating by the end of 1990 in frequent general strikes, increased campus
protests, public rallies, and a general disintegration of law and order.
On December 6, 1990, Ershad offered
his resignation. On February 27, 1991, after 2 months of widespread civil unrest, an
interim government oversaw what most observers believed to be the nation's most free and
fair elections to date.
Khaleda Zia, 1991-96
The center-right BNP won a plurality
of seats and formed a coalition government with the Islamic fundamentalist party
Jamaat-I-Islami, with Khaleda Zia, widow of Ziaur Rahman, obtaining the post of Prime
Minister. Only four parties had more than 10 members elected to the 1991 Parliament: The
BNP, led by Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia; the AL, led by Sheikh Hasina; the
Jamaat-I-Islami (JI), led by Golam Azam; and the Jatiyo Party (JP), led by acting chairman
Mizanur Rahman Choudhury while its founder, former President Ershad, served out a prison
sentence on corruption charges. The electorate approved still more changes to the
constitution, formally re-creating a parliamentary system and returning governing power to
the office of the prime minister, as in Bangladesh's original 1972 constitution. In
October 1991, members of Parliament elected a new head of state, President Abdur Rahman
Biswas.
In March 1994, controversy over a
parliamentary by-election, which the opposition claimed the government had rigged, led to
an indefinite boycott of Parliament by the entire opposition. The opposition also began a
program of repeated general strikes to press its demand that Khaleda Zia's government
resign and a caretaker government supervise a general election. Efforts to mediate the
dispute, under the auspices of the Commonwealth Secretariat, failed. After another attempt
at a negotiated settlement failed narrowly in late December 1994, the opposition resigned
en masse from Parliament. The opposition then continued a campaign of marches,
demonstrations, and strikes in an effort to force the government to resign. The
opposition, including the Awami League's Sheikh Hasina , pledged to boycott national
elections scheduled for February 15, 1996.
In February, Khaleda Zia was
re-elected by a landslide in voting boycotted and denounced as unfair by the three main
opposition parties. In March 1996, following escalating political turmoil, the sitting
Parliament enacted a constitutional amendment to allow a neutral caretaker government to
assume power conduct new parliamentary elections; former Chief Justice Mohammed Habibur
Rahman was named Chief Advisor (a position equivalent to prime minister) in the interim
government. New parliamentary elections were held in June 1996 and were won by the Awami
League; party leader Sheikh Hasina became Prime Minister.
Sheikh Hasina, 1996-Present
Sheikh Hasina formed what she called
a "Government of National Consensus" in June 1996, which included one minister
from the Jatiya Party and another from the Jatiyo Samajtantric Dal, a very small leftist
party. The Jatiya Party never entered into a formal coalition arrangement, and party
president H.M. Ershad withdrew his support from the government in September 1997. Only
three parties had more than 10 members elected to the 1996 Parliament: The Awami League,
BNP, and Jatiya Party. Jatiya Party president, Ershad, was released from prison on bail in
January 1997.
Although international and domestic
election observers found the June 1996 election free and fair, the BNP protested alleged
vote rigging by the Awami League. Ultimately, however, the BNP party decided to join the
new Parliament. The BNP soon charged that police and Awami League activists were engaged
in large-scale harassment and jailing of opposition activists. At the end of 1996, the BNP
staged a parliamentary walkout over this and other grievances but returned in January 1997
under a four-point agreement with the ruling party. The BNP asserted that this agreement
was never implemented and later staged another walkout in August 1997. The BNP returned to
Parliament under another agreement in March 1998.
In June 1999, the BNP and other
opposition parties again began to abstain from attending Parliament. Opposition parties
have staged an increasing number of nationwide general strikes, rising from 6 days of
general strikes in 1997 to 27 days in 1999. A four-party opposition alliance formed at the
beginning of 1999 announced that it would boycott parliamentary by-elections and local
government elections unless the government took steps demanded by the opposition to ensure
electoral fairness. The government did not take these steps, and the opposition has
subsequently boycotted all elections, including municipal council elections in February
1999, several parliamentary by-elections, and the Chittagong city corporation elections in
January 2000. The opposition demands that the Awami League government step down
immediately to make way for a caretaker government to preside over paliamentary and local
government.
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