Bangladesh: Political Trends and Key Players - Observer Research ...
Bangladesh: Political Trends and Key Players - Observer Research ...
Bangladesh: Political Trends and Key Players - Observer Research ...
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ORF Strategic <strong>Trends</strong><br />
<strong>Political</strong> Parties<br />
Name of<br />
party<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
Nationalist<br />
Party (BNP)<br />
<strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
Awami<br />
League (AL)<br />
Selfdescription<br />
Jamaat-e-<br />
Islami (JI)<br />
Jatiya Party<br />
(JP)<br />
Founding<br />
year<br />
1978 Nationalist,<br />
democratic <strong>and</strong><br />
liberal<br />
1949 Liberal,<br />
democratic,<br />
secular <strong>and</strong><br />
nationalist<br />
1979 Islamic <strong>and</strong><br />
conservative<br />
but pragmatic<br />
Support<br />
base<br />
All sections/<br />
classes of<br />
people: religious,<br />
military <strong>and</strong><br />
business groups<br />
All groups of<br />
people,<br />
including<br />
ethnic <strong>and</strong><br />
religious<br />
minorities<br />
Religious <strong>and</strong><br />
business groups<br />
1986 N/A<br />
Popular in<br />
Rangpur region<br />
of <strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
Current<br />
head<br />
Begum<br />
Khaleda Zia<br />
Sheikh Hasina<br />
Wajed<br />
Matiur<br />
Rahman<br />
Nizami<br />
Hussain<br />
Muhammad<br />
Ershad<br />
Source: <strong>Political</strong> Parties in South Asia: The Challenge of Change South Asia Regional Report by International Institute<br />
for Democracy <strong>and</strong> Electoral Assistance, Stockholm, 2007<br />
Awami League<br />
Awami League (AL) is one of the oldest political parties of <strong>Bangladesh</strong><br />
<strong>and</strong> came into existence in Dhaka on June 23, 1949. The party is a<br />
breakaway faction of the erstwhile All India Muslim League. AL played<br />
an active role in the country's liberation movement. The party's<br />
charismatic leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, led the country's freedom<br />
struggle. AL takes pride in its history <strong>and</strong> projects itself to be the<br />
champion <strong>and</strong> protector of the spirit of the liberation movement. The<br />
party pledges to uphold secularism, democracy <strong>and</strong> Bengali<br />
nationalism, which are the very values stated as the State's basic<br />
principles in the first Constitution of 1972.<br />
The party's popularity is reflected in its electoral performance. In the<br />
last four parliamentary elections since 1991, the party has either<br />
4<br />
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