Bangladesh is a unitary state and parliamentary democracy.Direct
elections in which all citizens, aged 18 or over, can vote are held
every five years for the unicameral parliament known as Jatiya Sangsad.
The parliamentary building is known as the Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban and
was designed by architect Louis Kahn. Currently the parliament has 345
members including 45 reserved seats for women, 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 but mainly a 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 institutionalised
in 1996 through its 13th constitutional amendment.
The Constitution of Bangladesh was drafted in 1972 and has undergone 14
amendments. The highest judicial body is the Supreme Court. Justices are
appointed by the President. The judicial and law enforcement
institutions are weak. Separation of powers, judicial from executive was
finally implemented on 1 November 2007. It is expected that this
separation will make the judiciary stronger and impartial. Laws are
loosely based on English common law, but family laws such as marriage
and inheritance are based on religious scripts, and therefore differ
between religious communities.
Major parties in Bangladesh are the Bangladesh Awami League, the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami
(BJI). BNP is led by Khaleda Zia and has politically been allied with
Islamist parties like Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami but practice secular
politics. Sheikh Hasina's Awami League aligns with more leftist parties.
Hasina and Zia are bitter rivals who have dominated politics for over
15 years; each is related to one of the leaders of the independence
movement. Another important player is the Jatiya Party, headed by former
military dictator 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 student
leaders have been elected to the Parliament.
Two radical terrorist organisations, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh
(JMJB) and Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), were banned in
February 2005. Several small-scale bomb attacks taking place since 1999
have been blamed on those groups, and dozens of suspected members have
been detained in security operations, including the heads of those two
parties in 2006. The masterminds were tried and executed. The Bangladesh
government won praise from world leaders, including Western leaders,
for its strong anti-terrorist stance.
On 11 January 2007, following widespread political unrest, a caretaker
government was appointed to administer the next general election. The 22
January 2007 election was postponed indefinitely and emergency law
declared on 11 January 2007 as the Army backed caretaker government of
Fakhruddin Ahmed aimed to prepare a new voter list and crack down on
corruption. They also assisted the interim Government of Bangladesh in a
drive against corruption, which resulted in Bangladesh's position in
Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index changed from
the very bottom, where they had been for 3 years in a row, to 147th in
just 1 year. A large alliance led by the Bangladesh Awami League won 29
December 2008 poll, in a landslide victory. They got 230 seats among 300
seats in the parliament.
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