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List of political parties in Bangladesh

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article lists political parties in People's Republic of Bangladesh.

Since the restoration of parliamentary democracy in 1991, Bangladesh has a fading two-party system, which means that two political parties dominate the general elections centrist Awami League (AL) and centre-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), with extreme difficulty for anybody to achieve electoral success under the banner of another party.

Although the AL and BNP dominated Bangladeshi politics for a long time, the two are currently leading coalitions of like-minded parties, with the AL leading the left-of-centre parties and the BNP rallying the right-of-centre parties.[1]

A party is recognised as a registered party only if it fulfils one of the conditions listed below:[2]

  1. A party needs to secure at least one seat with its electoral symbol in two previous parliamentary elections.
  2. Securing of five percent of total votes cast in the constituencies in which its candidates took part in any of the aforesaid parliamentary elections.
  3. It needs to set up a functional central office, by whatever name it may be called with a central committee, having offices at least in one-third administrative districts, and offices at least in 100 upazilas or metropolitan thanas. And the party must have a minimum 200 voters as its members in each upazila.

Parties in the parliament prior to dissolution

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These were all of the political parties that held at least one seat in the Jatiya Sangsad. The 12th Jatiya Sangsad was dissolved on 6 August 2024. This is the state prior to the dissolution.

Alliances

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Grand Alliance

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The Grand Alliance (মহাজোট) is a coalition government in Bangladesh that formed in 2008 and consisted of the Bangladesh Awami League, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Workers Party and three other parties.

The Liberal Democratic Party left the Grand Alliance before the election and contested independently. It joined the 18 Party Alliance in 2012.

Left Democratic Alliance

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The Left Democratic Alliance is an alliance of 8 Leftist Political parties including Communist Party of Bangladesh, Socialist Party of Bangladesh, Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh, United Communist League Of Bangladesh, Ganatantrik Biplobi Party, Bam Gonotantrik Andolon and Ganosamhati Andolan.[6]

Major parties

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Since 1991, due to the two-party system, two major parties, Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party constantly dominate the politics and form government.

Awami League

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Bangladesh Nationalist Party

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The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, abbreviated as BNP, was founded on 1 September 1978 by Bangladeshi President Ziaur Rahman, politician and physician A. Q. M. Badruddoza Chowdhury, human rights activist and lawyer Moudud Ahmed and leftist politician Mashiur Rahman as the key people. BNP has won the second, fifth, sixth and eighth national elections and two presidential elections, in 1978 and 1981 respectively. The party also holds the record of being the largest opposition in the history of parliamentary elections of the country with 116 seats in the seventh national election of 1996.[7] The party does not have any representation in the parliament after its boycott of the national election of 2014 which the party had termed a scandalous farce and was marked by a very low turnout.[8]

Registered parties

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These are all the parties that are currently registered under Election Commission.[9]

Regional parties

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Name Founded Ideology Leader Political position
PCJSS Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti
পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রাম জনসংহতি সমিতি
1972 Autonomy of the indigenous tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Shantu Larma Left-wing
UPDF United People's Democratic Front
ইউনাইটেড পিপলস ডেমোক্রেটিক ফ্রন্ট
1998 Autonomy of the indigenous tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Prasit Bikash Khisa Left-wing

Outlawed parties

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Name Founded Ideology Leader Political position Legal status Note
Maoist Bolshevik Reorganization Movement of the Purba Bangla Sarbahara Party 2001 Communism Maoism Far-left Outlawed [12] [13]
Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party 1971 Communism Maoism Anwar Kabir Far-left Banned [14]
Purba Banglar Communist Party 1968 Communism Maoism Tipu Biswas Far-left Banned [15]
Kuki-Chin National Front 2008 Autonomy of Kuki-Chin people Nathan Bom Banned [16][17]
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami 1975 Islamism Shafiqur Rahman Far-right Banned [b] [18][19]

Unregistered parties

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The Awami League has been accused of far-right authoritarianism since 2021.[3][4][5]
  2. ^ In practice the ban has very little effect. Jamaat-e-Islami actively takes part in regular political activities.
  1. ^ "Jatiya Party to contest the national polls with grand alliance | News Flash".
  2. ^ কমিশনে রাজনৈতিক দলসমূহের নিবন্ধন আইন, ২০২০ [Commission Political Party Registration Act 2020] (PDF). Election Commission of Bangladesh (in Bengali). 30 June 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  3. ^ Hossain, Akram; Mahmudul, Haque (19 October 2021). Survival Strategies of Jamaat as a Religion-Based Political Opponent in Bangladesh. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 105–123. doi:10.1007/978-981-16-4314-9_7. ISBN 978-981-16-4314-9. S2CID 239951371.
  4. ^ Khan, Q. M. Jalal (25 June 2021). President Ziaur Rahman: Legendary Leader of Bangladesh. Writers Republic LLC. ISBN 9781637285749.
  5. ^ Ruud, Arild; Hasan, Mubashar (18 October 2021). Masks of Authoritarianism Hegemony, Power and Public Life in Bangladesh. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. p. 112. ISBN 9789811643149.
  6. ^ "Leftist parties form new Left Democratic Alliance as general election nears". bdnews24.com. 19 July 2018.
  7. ^ "Bangladesh Election Results". Bangladesh Election Commission. 10 April 2008.
  8. ^ "Bangladesh's ruling Awami League wins boycotted poll". BBC News. 6 January 2014.
  9. ^ "Bangladesh Election Commission".
  10. ^ "Insaniyat Biplab Bangladesh now EC-registered party". The Daily Star. 9 May 2023.
  11. ^ "New political party Humanity Revolution, Bangladesh registered by EC". Dhaka Tribune. 26 June 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  12. ^ "5 killed in series of 'gunfights'". Prothomalo. 2018-04-19. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  13. ^ Report, Star Online (2015-11-05). "3 killed in separate 'gunfights'". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  14. ^ "Regional Information Base on Terrorism :: Terrorism news, Chronology, Organization Profiles". web.archive.org. 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  15. ^ "Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) Terrorist Group, Bangladesh". www.satp.org. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  16. ^ "Who are these Kuki-Chin armies in the CHT?". web.archive.org. 2023-04-10. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  17. ^ "In Chattogram Hill Tracts, a new group of armed insurgents is making waves. Who are they?". web.archive.org. 2024-05-02. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  18. ^ PTI (2024-08-01). "Bangladesh bans Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir under anti-terrorism law". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  19. ^ প্রতিনিধি, বিশেষ (2024-08-20). "নিষিদ্ধের আদেশ প্রত্যাহারের চেষ্টায় জামায়াত". Prothomalo (in Bengali). Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  20. ^ "নতুন দল বাংলাদেশের সাম্যবাদী আন্দোলনের আত্মপ্রকাশ (English: Public Appearance of New Party Communist Movement of Bangladesh)". Bangla News 24. 3 April 2021.

References

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