1991 Bangladeshi general election

1991 Bangladeshi general election
← 1988 27 February 1991 February 1996 →
300 of the 330 seats in the Jatiya Sangsad
151 seats needed for a majority
Registered62,181,743
Turnout55.45% (Increase 2.97pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Khaleda Zia Sheikh Hasina H.M. Ershad
Party BNP AL JP(E)
Last election Boycotted Boycotted 251 seats
Seats won 140 88 35
Popular vote 10,507,549 10,259,866 4,063,537
Percentage 30.81% 30.08% 11.92%
Prime Minister before election

Kazi Zafar Ahmed
JP(E)

Subsequent Prime Minister

Khaleda Zia
BNP

General elections were held in Bangladesh on 27 February 1991. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) emerged as the largest party in parliament, winning 140 of the 300 directly elected seats. The BNP formed a government with the support of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and on 20 March Khaleda Zia was sworn in for her first term as Prime Minister.[1]

The elections were described to be free and fair by many international observers, and it played a major role in solidifying Bangladeshi democracy in aftermath of the anti-government protests in late 1980s. Voter turnout was 55.4%.[2][3]

The election was disproportionate, with the BNP winning 52 more seats than the Awami League, despite their popular vote total differing by less than one percentage point.

  1. ^ "BANGLADESH: parliamentary elections Jatiya Sangsad, 1991". Inter-Parliamentary Union. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  2. ^ Dieter Nohlen; Florian Grotz; Christof Hartmann (2001). Elections in Asia: A data handbook. Vol. I. p. 537. ISBN 0-19-924958-X.
  3. ^ Bangladesh Election Commission (1991). "Report on election activities: Jatiya Sangsad Elections, 1991 (in Bengali)" (PDF). Government Printing Press. Retrieved 29 May 2022.