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‹ 2001
Bangladeshi general election, 2008 All 300 seats in the Jatiyo Sangshad
December 29, 2008 (2008-12-29)
		First Party	Second Party
Leader		Sheikh Hasina	Khaleda Zia
Party		Awami	BNP
Leader since		1981	1984
Leader's seat		Bagerhat-1	Feni-1
Last election		62 seats, 40.02%	193 seats, 41.40%
Seats won		230	29
Seat change		+168	–164
Incumbent Prime Minister Fakhruddin Ahmed Chief Adviser of Bangladesh Non-Partisan Prime Minister-designate Sheikh Hasina Awami

Bangladesh

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Bangladesh

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A general election was held in Bangladesh on 29 December 2008. The two key parties in the election were the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Khaleda Zia, and the Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina. The Awami League formed a fourteen-party grand alliance (Mohajot) including Ershad's Jatiya Party,¹ while the BNP formed a four-party alliance which included the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami.² The election was originally scheduled for January 2007, but it was postponed for an extended period due to protests by the opposition and threats of general boycott.

The election resulted in a landslide victory for the Awami League-led grand alliance,³ which won 263 seats. The main rival four-party alliance led by Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh received only 32 seats, with the remaining 4 going to independent candidates.

Polling in the constituency of Noakhali-1 was postponed due to the death of a candidate; the election for the seat will be held on 12 January 2009 instead.⁴⁵

Main political parties

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On 11 December, Bangladesh Awami League formed a coalition with the Jatiya Party of General Ershad once deposed through mass uprising. The coalition has some other minor parties. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, BNP in short, continued with its alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami formed for the national election of 2001 to participate in the 2008 election. If Jatiyo Party wins more than 35 seats, it will be able to negotiate a better deal with Awami League on sharing of power and in forming government.

Awami League-led coalition (Grand Alliance)

The Bangladesh Awami League (AL) decided to participate in the 2008 parliamentary election under the name of "Grand Alliance" with the Jatiya Party led by General Ershad as its main partner. The AL contested the polls for 245 constituencies. Awami League conceded as many as 46 out of 300 parliamentary constituencies to Jatiya Party (JP). Other minor partners in the alliance were given nine seats. Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon will contest for Dhaka-8, its general secretary Bimal Biswas for Narail-1, its politburo member Fazle Hossain Badsha for Rajshahi-2, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal president Hasanul Haq Inu for Kushtia-2, its leaders Moinuddin Khan Badal for Chittagong-8, Rezaul Karim Tansen for Bogra-4, Shah Ahmed Jikrul for Brahmanbaria-5 and Gias Uddin for Mymensingh-9. The Awami League kept the Noakhali-1 constituency reserved, where the election has been postponed following the death of Ganatantri Party leader Mohammad Nurul Islam in a mysterious fire. The alliance has kept three more seats – Nilphamari-4, Khulna-3 and Sylhet-3 – open for both AL and JP candidates to contest for. Notably, as of 18 December 2008, some candidates were allowed by the High Court of the country notwithstanding a contrary decision from the Election Commission.

BNP-led coalition (4-Party Alliance)

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies contested for 296 out of 300 in the 2008 election. The Election Commission cancelled candidature of nominees of BNP in four constituencies. The BNP its allies could not reach a consensus on sharing six constituencies Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami will contest in the election in 38 constituencies although BNP agreed to offer Jamaat 34 seats. BNP conceded two seats each to its three smaller allies – Bangladesh Jatiya Party-BJP, Islami Oikya Jote and Jamiat-e-Olama-e-Islam. BNP could place any candidate for four constituencies which are Barisal-1, Moulvibazar-2, Sirajganj-5 and Narail-2. However, two BNP rebels emerged as valid independent candidates in Barisal-1 and Moulvibazar-2 candidates. They are Jahiruddin Swapan in Barisal-1 and former lawmaker MM Shaheen in Moulvibazar-2. Notably, as of 18 December 2008, some candidates were allowed by the High Court of the country notwithstanding a contrary decision of the Election Commission.

Postponement of 2006 election

Riots erupted in October 2006 as the government of outgoing Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and her Bangladesh National Party was to turn over power to a caretaker government to be led by Justice K. M. Hasan. At least three people died as thousands of demonstrators gathered on the streets in numerous towns; the opposition objected to Hasan because it felt he was too close to the BNP.⁶ President Iajuddin Ahmed became head of the caretaker government instead, but he was also opposed by Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina and her allies, who accused him of favoring Zia. On 3 January 2007, Hasina announced that the Awami League and its allies would boycott the election,⁷ but the Election Commission stated that the election would be held regardless of the boycott.⁸

From 4 January to 7 January 2007 public protests were held to reach electoral reform; these protests brought the capital, Dhaka, to a standstill,⁹ and led to a state of emergency being declared on 11 January 2007 by Ahmed, who stepped down as chief adviser a few hours later. He also said that the elections would be delayed, and that Fazlul Haque would become acting chief adviser until Ahmed appointed a new chief adviser within a few days.¹⁰¹¹

Formation of military-controlled caretaker government

Later on the same day, Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed was appointed as the new chief adviser.¹² The media referred to the regime of Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed as "military-backed".¹³¹⁴¹⁵

Nobel Peace Prize-winner Muhammad Yunus subsequently announced the foundation of a new party called Citizens' Power.¹⁶ Yunus later rejected entering politics, claiming a lack of support.

On 5 April 2007, the county's chief election official declared that the elections would need to be pushed back at least eighteen months.¹⁷ On 12 April, Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed announced in a televised speech to the nation that the next parliamentary election would be held before the end of 2008.¹⁸ On 15 July 2007, the Election Commission of Bangladesh published a road map for the election, promising a compilation of voter lists by October 2008 and an official election call before the end of that year.¹⁹

After the election, the parliament will have to elect the next President of Bangladesh. The election should have taken place by 5 September 2007 when Iajuddin Ahmed's term expired, but the election was postponed due to the lack of an elected parliament.²⁰

On 9 September 2007, Fakhruddin Ahmed addressed the nation and recalled indoor politics with strict conditions to facilitate preparation for the election and reaffirmed his commitment to hold the election on time or earlier.²¹

In early October, the Chief Electoral Commissioner stated elections could be held by October 2008, if the electoral roll could be compiled by July 2008.²² It was announced on 18 February 2008 that for the first time in the history of Bangladesh, prisoners will also be allowed to vote.²³

Talks with two smaller parties started on 22 May 2008, and the interim government stated it would hold talks with all parties in short time.²⁴ However, both the Awami League and the BNP declined to attend these talks as long as their leaders were still detained.²⁵ Voters lists were announced to be ready on 22 July 2008.²⁶

On 4 August 2008, local elections were held in Sylhet, Khulna, Barisal, and Rajshahi.²⁷ BBC News reported that the candidates supported by the Awami League party won twelve of the thirteen city corporations and municipalities voting, according to election commission officials.²⁷ Chief Adviser Ahmed announced on 21 September that the general election would be held on 18 December.²⁸

Postponement of 2008 election

Election banners of candidates promoted across many cities in Bangladesh

The BNP called for a delay of the election until January 2009, while the AL was against such a delay. As a compromise, the election was postponed from 18 December to 29 December.²⁹

In a response to the demand of the major political parties, on 17 December 2008, the two-year-long state of emergency was lifted.³⁰

Statistics

The Election Commission announced the following statistics:

• Registered voters: 81,130,973
• Candidates: 1,538
• Constituencies: 300
• Registered parties: 32

Notably, as of 20 December 2008, as many as 35 prospective candidates were allowed by the High Court of the country to contest in the election notwithstanding a contrary decision of the Election Commission. A winner among them will lose a seat in the parliament if the Supreme Court turns down the High Court decision.

Contestants

³¹

Election results

The general election took place on December 29, 2008. The voter turnout of 80 percent (81 million eligible voters) was the highest in the history of Bangladeshi elections ³²³³ This was the first time elections used national ID cards with photographs to avoid bogus voting, an UN-funded initiative of digital electoral roll.³⁴³⁵ 11 million false names were removed from the voter lists before elections.³⁶

The elections were held under a neutral caretaker government after nearly two years of emergency rule. About 50,000 soldiers of Bangladeshi Army and 600,000 police were deployed to guard against election fraud and violence.³⁶ 200,000 electoral observers, including 2,500 from outside Bangladesh, monitored the elections for free and fair nature. Before the elections, the army backed caretaker government took measures to root out corruption from the process.

After losing a majority of seats, Khaleda Zia's party had alleged that election irregularities were to be blamed. They alleged that BNP party supporters were kept from voting, and their polling agents and officials were barred from performing their duties.³⁴ Two people were killed in post election violence.³⁷

According to M. Anwarul Iqbala, a senior official in Bangladesh's caretaker government, power will be transfered to the winners of the election in a week.³⁸. As the party head of AL, ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to swear in as Prime Minister on January 10, 2009.

Total results

*Election in one constituency was postponed due to the death of one of the candidates prior to the election date.

Total seats won in all six divisions of Bangladesh³⁹
      Awami League       Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)       Jatiya Party       Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal (JSD)       Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (Jamaat)       Workers Party of Bangladesh (BWP)       Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP)       Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)       Independent

Reactions

• Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh congratulated Sheikh Hasina over the telephone on the landslide victory. Singh conveyed the message "India looked forward to working with the Government and the people of Bangladesh in the years ahead for the mutual benefit of the people of the two countries". India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, "I do hope that once the new government comes, we will discuss the existence of the problem (terrorism emanating from Bangladesh) with them and we will see what best can be done".⁴⁰ Other political parties of India, such as Bhartiya Janata Party and Trinamool Congress also congratulated Sheikh Hasina.⁴¹⁴²
• U.S. State Department congratulated the Bangladesh Election Commission and government officials on the successful election.⁴³ A statement issued stated high voter turnout underscores the people's desire to see democracy restored.⁴⁴
• Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, European Union's chief election observer said "voting has largely been peaceful, turnout has been high and procedures were followed adequately".³⁵

Notes and references

v • d • e  Bangladeshi general elections 1970 · 1973 · 1978 · 1979 · 1981 · 1986 · 1988 · 1991 · 1996 (Feb) · 1996 (Jun) · 2001 · 2008  Bangladeshi presidential elections 1978  Bangladeshi referendums 1985

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