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February 1996 Bangladeshi general election

February 1996 Bangladeshi general election

← 1991 15 February 1996 June 1996 →
300 of the 330 seats in the Jatiya Sangsad 151 seats needed for a majority
Registered	56,149,182
Turnout	21% 34.4 pp
First party   Leader Khaleda Zia Party BNP Last election 30.81%, 140 seats Seats won 278 Seat change 138
Prime Minister before election Khaleda Zia BNP Subsequent Prime Minister Khaleda Zia BNP

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General elections were held in Bangladesh on 15 February 1996. They were boycotted by most opposition parties, and saw voter turnout drop to just 21%.^[1] The result was a victory for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which won 278 of the 300 directly elected seats.^[1] This administration was short-lived, however, only lasting 12 days^[2] before the installation of caretaker government and fresh elections held in June.

In March 1994, controversy over a parliamentary by-election, which the Bangladesh Awami League-led opposition claimed the BNP government had rigged, led to an indefinite boycott of Parliament by the entire opposition.^[3] The opposition also began a program of repeated general strikes to press its demand that Khaleda Zia's government resign and that a caretaker government supervise a general election.^[3] Efforts to mediate the dispute, under the auspices of the Commonwealth Secretariat, failed. After another attempt at a negotiated settlement failed narrowly in late December 1994, the opposition resigned en masse from Parliament. The opposition then continued a campaign of marches, demonstrations, and strikes in an effort to force the government to resign.^[3] The opposition, including the Awami League's Sheikh Hasina, Jatiya Party and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami pledged to boycott national elections scheduled for 15 February 1996.

Incumbent Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's BNP was re-elected for the second term after a landslide victory, but in voting boycotted and denounced as unfair by the three main opposition parties. The voter turnout was the lowest in Bangladesh's parliamentary electoral history at only 21%.^[1] Following the election, the President invited Zia to form a government, but this administration was short-lived, lasting only 12 days.^[2]

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				General	Reserved	Total	+/–
	Bangladesh Nationalist Party			278	30	308	+140
	Bangladesh Freedom Party			1	0	1	0
	Independents			10	0	10	+7
Vacant				11	0	11	–
Total				300	30	330	0
Total votes		11,776,481	–
Registered voters/turnout		56,149,182	20.97
Source: Nohlen et al., Kumar Panday

An immediate series of hartals (strikes) were called by the other parties and an indefinite non-cooperation movement was conducted until demands for a new, free election was met.^[3] In March 1996, following escalating political turmoil, the sitting Parliament enacted the thirteenth Constitutional amendment installing a neutral caretaker government to assume power and conduct new parliamentary elections; former Chief Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman was named Chief Advisor (a position equivalent to prime minister) in the interim government. Zia's administration lasted only 12 days.^[2] New parliamentary elections were scheduled for June 1996.