Politics of Bangladesh - Political Parties and Elections

Political Parties and Elections

For other political parties see List of political parties in Bangladesh. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in Bangladesh. See also: Bangladesh Election Commission

The threemajor parties in Bangladesh are the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Bangladesh Awami League and Jatiya Party. BNP finds its allies among some Islamist parties like Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh while the Awami League aligns itself traditionally with leftist and secularist parties. Another important player is the Jatiya Party, headed by former military ruler Hossain Mohammad 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.

Three radical Islamist parties, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) and Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Harkatul Jihad were banned in February 2005 on grounds of militancy and terrorism. Following the first series of bans, a series of bomb attacks took place in the country. The evidence of staging these attacks by these extremist groups have been found in the investigation, and hundreds of suspected members have been detained in numerous security operations, including the head the of those two parties in 2006. The first recorded case of a suicide bomb attack in Bangladesh took place in November 2005..

Extremist groups Shahadat-e-al-Hikma Bangladesh and Hizb-ut-Tahrir Bangladesh were banned on 22 October 2009 by the government, as the group was trying to destabilize the country by stoking the army after the 2009 BDR mutiny.

Read more about this topic:  Politics Of Bangladesh

Famous quotes containing the words political, parties and/or elections:

    “... whatever men do or know or experience can make sense only to the extent that it can be spoken about. There may be truths beyond speech, and they may be of great relevance to man in the singular, that is, to man in so far as he is not a political being, whatever else he may be. Men in the plural, that is, men in so far as they live and move and act in this world, can experience meaningfulness only because they can talk with and make sense to each other and to themselves.”
    —Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)

    “A true Friendship is as wise as it is tender. The parties to it yield implicitly to the guidance of their love, and know no other law nor kindness.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.”
    —Gore Vidal (b. 1925)