Timeline of past Bangladesh elections and the country’s leaders 

Bangladesh is heading to the polls for the first time since student-led protests dramatically ousted its longtime leader, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, amid a brutal crackdown on demonstrators, and forced her to flee the country in 2024.

More than 127 million people are eligible to vote in the February 12 elections, which are being referred to as the biggest democratic exercise of the year. However, there are concerns about the possibility of unrest. About 15 million Bangladeshi expatriates, whose remittances are highly significant for the economy, will also be able to vote by post for the first time.

Elections in the South Asian country, which is currently led by the caretaker government of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, have historically been marked by bitter political campaigns, boycotts and allegations of rigging.

Traditionally, the country’s politics has been dominated by Hasina’s former ruling Awami League, and the former main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The Awami League, however, has been banned as its leader, Hasina, and other party officials face criminal trials over their brutal crackdown on protests in 2024.

Hasina was tried and issued a death sentence in absentia for ordering the killing of protesters. But India, where she has taken refuge, has not agreed to her extradition.

Bangladesh operates a single-house parliamentary system, and a prime minister typically appoints a ceremonial president. A total of 1,981 candidates are vying for 350 seats in the Jatiya Sangsad national assembly. The BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami are the two main contenders, each leading multi-party coalitions.

Elections are usually held every five years. There have been 11 democratically elected governments since Bangladesh’s formation in 1971, punctuated at intervals by periods of military rule.

Here’s a timeline of the country’s past elections:

1970 – Pakistan elections, pre-independence

When Bangladesh was still part of Pakistan, general elections were held in the former East and West Pakistan in December 1970. The two regions were geographically separated by India, and the majority Bengali population in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) had been pushing for independence.

Pro-independence politician Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League won close to all 162 seats allocated to East Pakistan in the common Pakistani parliament. The Awami League also effectively won a majority in the then-313-seat National Assembly of Pakistan — which should have allowed it to form the national government of a united Pakistan, with Rahman as prime minister.

However, the Pakistani military government refused to allow him to become PM. Rahman delivered a fiery speech in which he declared that Bangladesh would be independent of Pakistan by March 1971.

The Pakistan army violently attacked activists, triggering the Bangladeshi Liberation War from March to December 1971, during which Bengalis in East Pakistan were ethnically cleansed. An estimated three million people were killed and 200,000 women sexually assaulted, according to the United Nations.

Rahman — better known as Mujib in Bangladesh — was imprisoned at the beginning of the conflict, but a provisional government was formed in his absence in exile. It operated from nearby Kolkata in India under acting President Syed Nazrul Islam until Rahman’s release in January 1972 following independence. Rahman then served as prime minister.

1973 – First post-independence election

After Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan in December 1971, a provisional government held the country’s first general election in March 1973. It was controversial, however, and has since been seen as an indicator of Mujib’s subsequent autocratic policies. While 14 political parties contested the election, the Awami League won an overwhelming 73 percent of the vote and snatched 293 of the contested 300 seats.

While the party was the favourite to dominate the elections in any case, Mujib nevertheless was alleged to have taken extra measures to consolidate power, including rigging polls through ballot-stuffing and intimidating and arresting opposition leaders.

Opposition parties Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and the Jatiya League won only one seat each.

In 1974, Mujib banned all opposition parties, ushering in a one-party state. He also restricted journalists’ access to parliament.

1975 to 1986 – an era of chaotic military

Mujib and most of his family were assassinated in August 1975 during a bloody coup organised by mid-level officials, led by Colonel Sayed Farooq-ur-Rahman. Finance Minister Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad immediately declared himself president with the army’s backing.

Ahmad undid the one-party policy, allowing opposition parties to form, but was toppled shortly after in a counter-coup in November 1975 led by General Khaled Mosharraf, an ally of Rahman. Chief Justice Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem then ruled as president with the military’s support until he resigned on health grounds in April 1977.

Then-army chief Ziaur Rahman took over as president. Zia, as he was popularly known, had also been a major figure during the liberation struggle – he broadcast the Bangladesh Declaration of Independence at the time.

As leader, he is credited with instituting economic recovery in the struggling country by liberalising the economy. He also pushed for a national Bangladeshi identity, rather than a Bengali one, which, until then, had excluded minority ethnic groups. Most notably, he ushered in multi-party elections again.

1979 multi-party elections

In February 1979, Ziaur’s government organised the first polls since 1973, in which his newly formed Bangladesh National Party (BNP) participated and won 207 out of 300 parliamentary seats. The Awami League, now the major opposition, won 39 seats but claimed the elections were rigged.

1986 and 1988 elections discredited

After Ziaur’s assassination in an abortive military coup on May 30,1981, Vice President Abdus Sattar became acting president and conducted presidential elections in November of the same year. BNP again won 65 percent of the vote. But within months, army chief Hussain Muhammad Ershad had seized power in a bloodless coup in March 1982, imposing martial law.

Ershad ruled for the next four years. When he held elections in May 1986, his Jatiya Party won 183 seats, securing a parliamentary majority. Opposition parties like the BNP had boycotted the vote, calling it a sham. Opposition parties again criticised the elections held in March 1988, when the Jatiya Party won 259 seats, as unfair and manipulated. Widespread protests calling for Ershad’s resignation broke out.

1991 ‘free and fair’ elections

The BNP, led by the late Khaleda Zia – Ziaur’s widow – and the Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina – the eldest of Rahman’s two surviving daughters – joined forces to lead mass protests in December 1990, which forced Ershad’s government to resign.

A caretaker government, led by Supreme Court justice Shahabuddin Ahmed, then held new elections on February 27, 1991, which were widely regarded as legitimate.

Khaleda Zia’s BNP won 140 seats while Hasina’s Awami League took 88. The Jatiya Party won 35 seats.

Khaleda Zia became Bangladesh’s first female prime minister.

1996 – Hasina’s first win

Tensions between the ruling BNP and Awami League were boiling over following a parliamentary by-election for the Magura-2 constituency. Although the BNP’s candidate had won, the Awami League claimed the vote had been rigged, and began pressing Khaleda Zia to hand power over to a caretaker government to conduct forthcoming elections.

The Awami League and other opposition parties then boycotted the February 15, 1996 election, clearing the way for the BNP to win nearly all seats in parliament. Voter turnout was one of the lowest in the country ever, at only 21 percent.

However, general strikes across Bangladesh forced the BNP to hand power to a caretaker government just 12 days after the vote. In March, a requirement that a neutral caretaker government must oversee all future general elections was written into the constitution.

More elections were held on June 12. There was a much better turnout of 75 percent, and voting was widely seen as free. Hasina won her first term as prime minister, with the Awami League securing 146 parliamentary seats, just ahead of the BNP, which won 116 seats.

2001 elections – BNP retakes power

Another caretaker government oversaw the next general election in October 2001. This time, the opposition BNP surged in popularity and won 193 parliament seats, ahead of the ruling Awami League, which secured 62 seats.

The elections were mostly peaceful, although there were some reports of violence towards the country’s minority Hindu population. Khaleda Zia of the BNP was able to form a government for a second time.

2006 – Election crisis and a failed vote

A dispute erupted between the ruling BNP, opposition Awami League, and other major players over who would lead the next caretaker government ahead of the January 2007 elections.

Riots broke out after the BNP named a retired chief justice with ties to then-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.

The BNP-appointed president, Iajuddin Ahmed, ultimately declared himself leader of the caretaker government after no consensus was reached.

In December, revelations that fake names had been included on the list of candidates sparked riots. Thousands of protesters blockaded the transport system and shut down schools and offices. The country descended into a political crisis that would last for several months.

Ahmed declared a national emergency, allowing the military to intervene. In protest, the Awami League withdrew from the planned elections. The elections failed to be held.

2008 – Hasina’s return

The delayed election eventually took place on December 29, 2008, with an 80 percent turnout – the highest the country had ever seen. It was also largely seen as fair.

The Awami League, led by Hasina, allied with several other opposition groups to form the Grand Alliance. The coalition ended up winning a majority of 230 seats. The BNP took just 30 seats. A new government was formed in January 2009. Hasina returned to power for the second time.

2014 – Opposition boycotts and crackdowns

Hasina’s Awami League government was highly critical of the military intervention that had delayed the 2009 election.

Upon her return to power, she moved to amend the constitution to get rid of the caretaker government requirement. However, the BNP boycotted a June 2011 parliamentary session where lawmakers voted on the amendment. The amendment to the constitution was passed by parliament by a vote of 291 to 1.

Hasina’s government also began to crack down on opposition leaders. Ahead of elections slated for January 5, 2014, opposition BNP leader Khaleda Zia was placed under house arrest, and there were widespread reports of violence against other opposition members. On election day, the BNP and its supporters refused to participate.

Hasina’s Awami League, therefore, won the elections again, securing 234 seats in parliament, in a vote widely panned — in Bangladesh and internationally — as illegitimate.

2018 – Awami League wins supermajority

The next general election was held on December 30, 2018, amid major technological upgrades. For the first time, voters could participate in electronic voting.

However, the BNP and other opposition parties accused the ruling Awami League-Jatiya Party coalition of rigging, despite the upgrades. There were again reports of violence against opposition BNP members and the party’s supporters, as well as allegations of vote rigging.

The Awami League government had also banned the Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamic party and a BNP ally at the time. Several Jamaat leaders were executed after convictions by a Hasina-appointed tribunal for alleged war crimes in 1971.

The government also shut down mobile internet ahead of the vote to stop the spread of fake news, it claimed. Khaleda Zia of BNP was outright barred from running after she was convicted and handed a 17-year jail term in a corruption case. The BNP maintained that the trial was politically motivated. Zia was acquitted after Hasina’s ousting.

The Awami League-Jatiya Party alliance won a supermajority – more than 90 percent of parliamentary seats. The elections were broadly seen as a sham.

2024 elections – the prelude to Hasina’s ousting

The last election to be held under Hasina’s administration was on January 7, 2024.

Hasina continued to crack down on opposition politicians and was largely seen to have near-total influence over the electoral commission that had been established in 1972.

The opposition BNP boycotted the elections, and the Jamaat was still under a ban, paving the way for Hasina to win her fifth term in office and cement her government’s position as the longest-serving administration in Bangladesh’s history. Bangladesh had effectively become a one-party state again.

In July, mass protests led by students broke out after the Supreme Court restored a job quota system that had prioritised the descendants of the country’s liberation activists. The 46-year-old law had initially been struck down in 2018, following student-led protests. Its reinstatement pushed thousands of students back onto the streets in what is now called the July Revolution.

However, the protests turned deadly when Hasina’s government responded violently. Security officials massacred demonstrators in the streets, resulting in the deaths of at least 1,400 people.

On August 5, Hasina resigned and fled the country to India.

On August 8, Muhammad Yunus, a globally recognised economist and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, took over as the interim leader.