( 1982-90)

Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. H.M. Ershad assumed power in a bloodless coup in March 1982. Like his predecessors, Ershad suspended the constitution and--citing pervasive corruption, ineffectual government, and economic mismanagement--declared martial law. The following year, Ershad assumed the presidency, retaining his positions as army chief and CMLA. During most of 1984, Ershad sought the opposition parties' participation in local elections under martial law. The opposition's refusal to participate, however, forced Ershad to abandon these plans.

Ershad sought public support for his regime in a national referendum on his leadership in March 1985. He won overwhelmingly, although turnout was small. Two months later, Ershad held elections for local council chairmen. Pro-government candidates won a majority of the posts, setting in motion the President's ambitious decentralization program.

Political life was further liberalized in early 1986, and additional political rights, including the right to hold large public rallies, were restored. At the same time, the Jatiyo (People's) Party, designed as Ershad's political vehicle for the transition from martial law, was established.

Despite a boycott by the BNP, led by President Zia's widow, Begum Khaleda Zia, parliamentary elections were held on schedule in May 1986. The Jatiyo Party won a modest majority of the 300 elected seats in the national assembly. The participation of the Awami League--led by the late Prime Minister Mujib's daughter, Sheikh Hasina Wajed--lent the elections some credibility, despite widespread charges of voting irregularities.

Ershad resigned as Army Chief of Staff and retired from military service in preparation for the presidential elections scheduled for October. Protesting that martial law was still in effect, both the BNP and the AL refused to put up opposing candidates. Ershad easily outdistanced the remaining candidates, taking 84% of the vote. Although Ershad's government claimed a turnout of more than 50%, opposition leaders and much of the foreign press estimated a far lower percentage and alleged voting irregularities.

Ershad, continued his stated commitment to lift martial law. In November 1986, his government mustered the necessary two-thirds majority in the national assembly to amend the constitution and confirm the previous actions of the martial law regime. The President then lifted martial law, and the opposition parties took their elected seats in the national assembly.

In July 1987, however, after the government hastily pushed through a controversial legislative bill to include military representation on local administrative councils, the opposition walked out of parliament. Passage of the bill helped spark an opposition movement that quickly gathered momentum, uniting Bangladesh's opposition parties for the first time. The government began to arrest scores of opposition activists under the country's Special Powers Act of 1974. Despite these arrests, opposition parties continued to organize protest marches and nationwide strikes. After declaring a state of emergency, Ershad dissolved parliament and scheduled fresh elections for March 1988.

All major opposition parties refused government overtures to participate in these polls, maintaining that the government was incapable of holding free and fair elections. Despite the opposition boycott, the government proceeded. The ruling Jatiyo Party won 251 of the 300 seats. The parliament, while still regarded by the opposition as an illegitimate body, held its sessions as scheduled and passed a large number of bills, including, in June 1988, a controversial constitutional amendment making Islam Bangladesh's state religion.

By 1989, the domestic political situation in the country seemed to have quieted. The local council elections were generally considered by international observers to have been less violent and more free and fair than previous elections. However, opposition to Ershad's rule began to regain momentum, escalating by the end of 1990 in frequent general strikes, increased campus protests, public rallies, and a general disintegration of law and order.

On December 6, 1990, Ershad offered his resignation. On February 27, 1991, after two months of widespread civil unrest, an interim government oversaw what most observers believed to be the nation's most free and fair elections to date.

(1991-96) (2001-Current)

The center-right BNP won a plurality of seats and formed a coalition government with the Islamic fundamentalist party Jamaat-I-Islami, with Khaleda Zia, widow of Ziaur Rahman, obtaining the post of Prime Minister.

Only four parties had more than 10 members elected to the 1991 parliament: The BNP, led by Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia; the AL, led by Sheikh Hasina Wajed; the Jamaat-I-Islami (JI), led by Golam Azam; and the Jatiyo Party (JP), led by acting chairman Mizanur Rahman Choudhury while its founder, former President Ershad, served out a prison sentence on corruption charges.

The electorate approved still more changes to the constitution, formally re-creating a parliamentary system and returning governing power to the office of the prime minister, as in Bangladesh's original 1972 constitution. In October 1991, members of parliament elected a new head of state, President Abdur Rahman Biswas.

In March 1994, controversy over a parliamentary by-election, which the opposition claimed the government had rigged, led to an indefinite boycott of parliament by the entire opposition. The opposition also began a program of repeated general strikes to press its demand that Khaleda Zia's government resign and a caretaker government supervise a general election.

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. The opposition--including the Awami League's Sheikh Hasina Wajed - pledged to boycott national elections scheduled for February 15, 1996.

In February, Khaleda Zia was re-elected by a landslide in voting boycotted and denounced as unfair by the three main opposition parties. In March 1996, following escalating political turmoil, the sitting parliament enacted a constitutional amendment to allow a neutral caretaker government to assume power and conduct new parliamentary elections; Former Chief Justice Mohammed Habibur Rahman was named Chief Advisor (a position equivalent to Prime Minister) in the interim government. New parliamentary elections were held in June 1996 and were won by the Awami League; party leader Sheikh Hasina became Prime Minister.

She was elected Prime Minister, for the third time in October 2001, in a free and fair election conducted by a neutral and non-partisan caretaker government and monitored by observers from all over the world. She led a four-party alliance to win a landslide two-thirds majority in the parliamentary polls.

Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed (Bengali: ড. ফখরুদ্দীন আহমেদ Fokhruddin Ahmed)(born May 1, 1940, in Bikrampur of Dhaka District, now Munshiganj, Bangladesh is a noted Bangladeshi economist, civil servant, and a former governor of the Bangladesh Bank, the country's central bank. He was appointed as the Chief Adviser (Head of the Government) of the non-party interim caretaker government of Bangladesh on 12 January 2007, amidst chaos in Bangladeshi politics.

Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, son of Dr. Mohiuddin Ahmed, took the oath of office as Chief Adviser of the Caretaker Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh on 12th January 2007. Prior to this appointment, he worked as Chairman of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) from June 2005 to January 2007. PKSF is the largest apex fund for micro credit in the world, currently providing financial and institution-building assistance to over two hundred micro-finance institutions. From October 2001 to April 2005, Dr. Ahmed served as Governor of the Bangladesh Bank.

While he was Governor, Dr. Ahmed introduced wide-ranging reforms in the conduct of monetary and exchange rate policy, in the development of new financial markets (bond market) and financial instruments (securitization), and in the operation of the financial system. The financial sector reforms included stronger corporate governance measures at the board level and also on internal policies, processes and structures within the banking industry and for non-bank financial institutions. Other significant reforms undertaken during his tenure included strengthening the capacity of the Bangladesh Bank. Dr. Ahmed’s major achievements included : (i) floating the exchange rate with minimal volatility, (ii) introducing interest rate flexibility and bringing down the interest rate substantially, which in turn contributed to a significant increase in industrial investment, (iii) introducing major corporate governance measures for the first time in the Bangladeshi corporate sector, and (iv) making the Bangladesh Bank an effective regulator and enforcer. The reforms implemented during Dr. Ahmed’s tenure contributed to macroeconomic and financial sector growth and stability in a major way.

Previously, Dr. Ahmed served for over twenty years at the World Bank, where his work focused on macroeconomic issues as well as on other sectoral and policy issues related to development. During his years at the World Bank, he worked across a number of countries in South Asia, East Asia and Africa.
Prior to joining the World Bank, he served for fifteen years in the erstwhile Civil Service of Pakistan and in the Government of Bangladesh, lastly as Joint Secretary, Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance. Dr. Ahmed began his professional career as a Lecturer in Economics at Dhaka University.

Dr. Ahmed obtained the first position in his class (first class first) in both BA (Hons.) and MA in Economics from Dhaka University. He subsequently received another MA in Development Economics from Williams College, USA, and a PhD in Economics from Princeton University, while on leave from his civil service appointment.


2007 interim caretaker government
On 12 January 2007, President Iajuddin Ahmed swore him in as Chief Adviser to the Interim Caretaker Government. He is respected on both sides of the sharp political divide in Bangladesh and is credited with bringing an end to the anarchy that had threatened to sweep the troubled nation. For a country widely perceived as one of the world's most corrupt, the most dramatic aspect of Ahmed's rule is his antigraft campaign against the establishment. So far, more than 160 senior politicians, top civil servants and security officials have been arrested on suspicion of graft and other economic crimes.The roundup has netted former ministers from the two main political parties, including former prime ministers Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia.

Ahmed fainted while giving a speech at a tree-planting event on June 3, 2007, apparently due to the heat, and was hospitalized. He was released from the hospital later on the same day and said that he was well on June 4, 2007.