1979 Bangladeshi general election|
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| Registered | 38,363,858 |
|---|
| Turnout | 51.29% ( 3.62pp) |
|---|
|
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First party
|
Second party
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|
|
|
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| Leader
|
Ziaur Rahman
|
Asaduzzaman Khan
|
| Party
|
BNP
|
AL
|
| Last election
|
–
|
293 seats
|
| Seats won
|
207
|
39
|
| Seat change
|
New
|
256
|
| Popular vote
|
7,934,236
|
4,734,277
|
| Percentage
|
41.17%
|
24.56%
|
|
|
General elections were held in Bangladesh on 18 February 1979. The result was a victory for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the party of the incumbent military regime, which won 207 of the 300 directly elected seats, although it only won 41% of the vote.[1][2] Voter turnout was 51%.[3][4] The Awami League became the main opposition party after winning 39 seats.[5]
The elections were organized by the military regime in Bangladesh.[6] The elections were postponed twice, as they were initially supposed to be held in December 1978.[6] The political opposition in Bangladesh intended to boycott the elections, unless the military regime the military regime withdrew martial law, assured that there would be a parliamentary system, released political prisoners, and restored full press freedom.[6] Ziaur Rahman made some concessions to the opposition, but the fell short of their full demands.[6] Subsequently some opposition parties decided to take part in the elections.[7]
Results
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| Party | Votes | % | Seats |
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| General | Reserved | Total | +/– |
|---|
| Bangladesh Nationalist Party | 7,934,236 | 41.17 | 207 | 30 | 237 | New |
| Awami League | 4,734,277 | 24.56 | 39 | 0 | 39 | –269 |
| Bangladesh Muslim League–Islamic Democratic League | 1,941,394 | 10.07 | 20 | 0 | 20 | New |
| Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal | 931,851 | 4.83 | 8 | 0 | 8 | +7 |
| Awami League (Mizan) | 535,426 | 2.78 | 2 | 0 | 2 | New |
| National Awami Party (Muzaffar) | 432,514 | 2.24 | 1 | 0 | 1 | New |
| United Peoples' Party | 170,955 | 0.89 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| Bangladesh Gono Front | 115,622 | 0.60 | 2 | 0 | 2 | New |
| National Awami Party (Nurur-Zahid) | 88,385 | 0.46 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| Communist Party of Bangladesh | 75,455 | 0.39 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Communist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist–Leninist) | 74,771 | 0.39 | 1 | 0 | 1 | New |
| Bangladesh Jatiya League | 69,319 | 0.36 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +1 |
| Jatiya Ekata Party | 44,459 | 0.23 | 1 | 0 | 1 | New |
| Bangladesh Ganatantrik Andolan | 34,259 | 0.18 | 1 | 0 | 1 | New |
| Jatiyatabadi Ganatantrik Dal | 27,259 | 0.14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| National Awami Party (Naser) | 25,336 | 0.13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| Bangladesh Janata Dal | 18,748 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| National Republican Party for Parity | 14,429 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| Jatiya Janata Party | 10,932 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| Bangladesh Labour Party | 7,738 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| People's Democratic Party | 5,703 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| Sramik Krishak Samajbadi Dal | 4,954 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| Bangladesh Democratic Party | 3,564 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| Bangladesh Jatiya Mukti Party | 3,363 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| Bangladesh Tanti Samity | 1,834 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| Bangladesh Nizam-e-Islam Party | 1,575 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| Gano Azadi League | 1,378 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| United Republican Party | 389 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| Bangladesh Ganatantrik Chashi Dal | 130 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New |
| Independents | 1,963,345 | 10.19 | 16 | 0 | 16 | +15 |
| Total | 19,273,600 | 100.00 | 300 | 30 | 330 | +15 |
|
| Valid votes | 19,273,600 | 97.95 | |
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| Invalid/blank votes | 402,524 | 2.05 | |
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| Total votes | 19,676,124 | 100.00 | |
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| Registered voters/turnout | 38,363,858 | 51.29 | |
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| Source: Nohlen et al., IPU, Government of Bangladesh |
References