General elections were held in Bangladesh on 29 December 2008. The two main parties in the election were the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Khaleda Zia, and the Bangladesh Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina. The Bangladesh Awami League Party formed a fourteen-party Grand Alliance including Ershad's Jatiya Party, while the BNP formed a four-party alliance which included Jamaat-e-Islami. The election was originally scheduled for January 2007, but it was postponed by a military-controlled caretaker government for an extended period of time.
The elections resulted in a landslide victory for the Awami League-led grand alliance, which won 263 seats of the 300 directly elected seats. The main rival four-party alliance received only 32 seats, with the remaining four going to independent candidates. Polling in the constituency of Noakhali-1 was postponed due to the mysterious death of the AL candidate. The election for the seat was held on 12 January 2009 instead and was won by the BNP candidate. Voter turnout was 87%, the highest ever recorded in a Bangladeshi general election.
Main political parties
On 11 December, the Awami League formed a coalition with the Jatiya Party led by Hussain Muhammad Ershad once deposed through mass uprising. The coalition included 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.
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).
Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon contested 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.
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 candidacy of nominees of BNP in four constituencies. The BNP and its allies could not reach a consensus on sharing six constituencies. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami contested in the election in 38 constituencies although BNP agreed to offer Jamaat 34 seats. BNP conceded two seats each to its three smaller allies which were Bangladesh Jatiya Party, Islami Oikya Jote and Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam. BNP was able to place any candidate for four constituencies which were Barisal-1, Moulvibazar-2, Sirajganj-5 and Narail-2. However, two BNP rebels emerged as valid independent candidates in Barisal-1 and Moulvibazar-2. They were Jahiruddin Swapan in Barisal-1 and former lawmaker MM Shaheen in Moulvibazar-2.
Formation of the caretaker government The BNP-Jamat led coalition government attempted to run an election in 2006. Awami League and other parties arranged various processions and strikes, protesting that the election result was pre-arranged in the government's favour. In course of time the clash between the Government and Opposition became very violent and in the Care-taker Government's period violence engulfed the nation. The president proclaimed his authority as the chief of the Care-Taker Government and eventually had to fall to the demand of the people. With the intervention of the Army the president had to resign from his Chief-Advisor's post and Fakhruddin Ahmed was appointed as the new chief adviser. The media referred to Ahmed's government as "military-backed". The military-controlled government worked on a minus-two formula which meant ousting Hasina and Zia, who were two popular political leaders of the country. While all political activities were suspended under the state of emergency, the government aimed to recast the political system of the country with people of high national and international stature. In accordance with this plan, Nobel Peace Prize-winner Muhammad Yunus announced the foundation of a new party called Citizens' Power. However, soon Yunus rejected entering politics, claiming a lack of support.
Struggle for new elections On 5 April 2007, the country's Chief Election Commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, declared that the elections would need to be pushed back at least eighteen months. On 12 April, Ahmed announced in a televised speech to the nation that the next parliamentary election would be held before the end of 2008. On 15 July 2007, the Bangladesh Election Commission 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. The constitution of Bangladesh, however, provides holding election within 120 days of the formation of a caretaker government.
After the election, the Jatiyo Sangshad had to elect the next president of Bangladesh. The presidential election should have taken place by 5 September 2007 when Iajuddin Ahmed's term expired. But the election was postponed as the Constitution of Bangladesh permits to delay the presidential election until a new Jatiyo Sangshad is formed. On 9 September 2007, President 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. In early October, the Chief Election Commissioner Huda stated elections could be held by October 2008 if the electoral roll could be compiled by July 2008.
Talks between the government and two smaller parties started on 22 May 2008, with the government indicating it would hold talks with all parties in short time. However, both the Awami League and the BNP declined to attend these talks as long as their leaders were still detained. Voters lists were announced to be ready on 22 July 2008.
On 4 August 2008, mayor and city council elections were held in Sylhet, Khulna, Barisal and Rajshahi cities. BBC News reported that the candidates supported by the Awami League won twelve of the thirteen city corporations and municipalities voting, according to election commission officials. Finally, Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed announced on 21 September that the general election would be held on 18 December."Bangladesh's general election to be held on Dec. 18" , Xinhua (People's Daily Online), 21 September 2008.
The BNP called for a delay of the election until January 2009, while the Awami League was against such a delay. As a compromise, the election was postponed from 18 to 29 December. In a response to the demand of the major political parties, on 17 December 2008, the two-year-long state of emergency was lifted.
Supreme Court ruling PartyNumber of candidatesIslamic Front Bangladesh2Islamic Movement Bangladesh160Islami Oikya Jote4United Citizens Movement11Krishak Shramik Janata League46Democratic Party5People's Front14Gano Forum45Jamaat-e-Ulama Islam Bangladesh7Zaker Party37National Democratic Party2Jatiya Party46Jatiya Party-JP7Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-Jasad6Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Rab)44National People's Party29Progressive Democratic Party21Freedom Party2Bangladesh Awami League259Bangladesh Islamic Front18Bangladesh Kalayan Party39Bangladesh Khilafat Andolan32Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis8Bangladesh Jatiya Party10Bangladesh Jatiya Party-BJP2Bangladesh Nationalist Party256Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami39Bangladesh Tarikat Federation31Bangladesh National Awami Party14Bangladesh National Awami Party-Bangladesh NAP5Bangladesh Muslim League5Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal57Workers Party of Bangladesh5Communist Party of Bangladesh38Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh5Bangladesher Samayabadi Dal (ML)1Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh62Liberal Democratic Party18Independent141Total:1538
Results The voter turnout of 80 percent was the highest in the history of Bangladeshi elections.Turnout rate in Bangladesh's ninth parliamentary election highest in history , Xinhua, 30 December 2008. This was the first time elections used national ID cards with photographs to avoid fake voting, which was an UN-funded initiative to create a digital electoral roll. Prior to the elections, 11 million false names were removed from the voter lists.
About 50,000 soldiers of Bangladeshi Army and 600,000 police officers were deployed to guard against election fraud and violence. However, two people were killed in post election violence.
By division Division Awami League BNP Jatiya Party JSD Jamaat BWP BJP LDP Independent Total seats Barisal 16 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 21 Chittagong 32 18 2 2 2 0 0 1 1 58 Dhaka 63 0 5 0 0 1 0 0 1 70 Khulna 30 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 36Mymensingh240000000024 Rajshahi 27 8 2 0 0 1 0 0 139 Rangpur2101200000033 Sylhet 17 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 Total 230 30 27 3 2 2 1 1 4 300Source: ECB
Reactions
Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh congratulated Sheikh Hasina on the landslide victory. Singh conveyed the message "I look forward to working with you towards this end for the mutual benefit of our two people". 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". Other political parties of India, such as Bhartiya Janata Party, Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) also congratulated Sheikh Hasina. President of United States George W. Bush phoned Sheikh Hasina and congratulated her on assuming the office of Prime Minister of Bangladesh. President Bush, who made the phone call at 6:40 pm Bangladesh time on 11 January, termed Hasina's success in the parliamentary election a "landslide victory", an official handout said. He said the verdict of the people of Bangladesh to establish non-communal democracy is notable. Prime Minister Hasina thanked the US president on behalf of the government and people of Bangladesh and her party. She said the support and cooperation of the US, along with other countries, toward holding a free, fair and neutral election in Bangladesh was commendable. The principal enemy of Bangladeshi people was poverty, she said and hoped for US cooperation to build a poverty-free Bangladesh. The prime minister told the US president that terrorism was one of the main problems in South Asia. She stressed the need for taking an effective joint initiative to fight terrorism in the region.