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Government and politics
Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban houses the Parliament of Bangladesh.Bangladesh is a
secular parliamentary democracy. Direct elections involving all citizens over
the age 18 are held every five years for the unicameral parliament. The
parliament is known as the Jatiyo Sangshad and currently has 300 seats, elected
from single-member constituencies. The Prime Minister, as the head of
government, forms the cabinet and runs the day-to-day affairs of state. While
the Prime Minister is formally appointed by the President, he or she must be an
MP who commands the confidence of the majority of parliament. The President is
the head of state, a largely ceremonial post elected by the parliament.
However the President's powers are substantially expanded during the tenure of a
caretaker government, which is responsible for the conduct of elections and
transfer of power. The officers of the caretaker government must be non-partisan
and are given three months to complete their task. This transitional arrangement
is an innovation that was pioneered by Bangladesh in its 1991 election and then
institutionalized in 1996 through its 13th constitutional amendment.
The Constitution of Bangladesh was written in 1972 and has undergone fourteen
amendments. The highest judiciary body is the Supreme Court, whose members are
appointed by the President. The judicial and law enforcement institutions are
weak. Laws are loosely based on English common law, but family laws such as
marriage and inheritance are based on religious scripts, and hence differ from
one religious community to another.
The two major parties in Bangladesh are the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
and the Bangladesh Awami League. BNP is lead by Khaleda Zia and finds its allies
among Islamist parties like Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and Islami Oikya Jot,
while Sheikh Hasina's Awami League aligns with leftist and secularist parties.
Hasina and Zia are bitter rivals who have dominated politics for 15 years; both
are women and each is related to one of the leaders of the independence
movement. Another important player is the Jatiya Party, headed by former
military ruler Ershad. The Awami League-BNP rivalry has been bitter and
punctuated by protests, violence and murder. Student politics is particularly
strong in Bangladesh, a legacy from the liberation movement era. Almost all
parties have highly active student wings, and students have been elected to the
Parliament.
Two radical Islamist parties, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) and
Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), were banned in February 2005. Bomb
attacks taking place since 1999 have been blamed on those groups, and hundreds
of suspected members have been detained in numerous security operations,
including the head of those two parties in 2006. The first recorded case of a
suicide bomb attack in Bangladesh took place in November 2005.
The 2006 election was postponed indefinitely and emergency law declared in
January 2007 as the caretaker government of Fakhruddin Ahmed aims to revise the
voter list and crack down on corruption. The government aims to hold new
elections by 2008 but the two leading candidates, Zia and Hasina, are facing
criminal charges in court.
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