Finance
Tarique Rahman, Chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was sworn in as Bangladesh’s 11th Prime Minister on Tuesday after his party won a landslide victory in the 13th Parliamentary election.
Following his oath, other cabinet members, including BNP leaders Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Salahuddin Ahmed, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud, Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, and others, were sworn in.
The oath was administered by Bangladesh’s President, Mohammed Shahabuddin, at the South Plaza of the National Parliament in Dhaka.
The BNP’s 50-member cabinet includes 25 ministers, 24 state ministers, and three technocrats.
It includes several new faces, including leaders who are taking up ministerial duties for the first time, with others gaining a spot in the cabinet following their first election, according to the country’s largest Bengali daily, Prothom Alo.
Earlier in the day, all 209 of the victorious BNP candidates were sworn in as members of Parliament, but they refused to accept the Constitution Reform Council oath.
According to BNP leader Salauddin Ahmed, all of the party’s newly elected MPs have been advised not to sign the Constitution Reform Council form because they were not voted to the council.
Following this, the 11-party alliance parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Andolan and National Citizens’ Party (NCP), refused to take parliamentary oaths, citing BNP’s refusal to accept the Constitution Reform Council.
However, soon after the Jamaat-led alliance, independent candidates, and Islami Andolan Bangladesh took their oath as MPs.
Later, six newly-elected NCP MPs also took the oath.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin administered the oath in accordance with the country’s Constitution. It was for the first time in the country’s history that a CEC administered the oath to the newly-elected MPs.
BNP elected Rahman as its leader, setting him up to become the Leader of the House and take the oath as the Prime Minister of the country.
The 13th parliamentary election was held alongside the referendum on the July National Charter on February 12 in 299 out of the country’s 300 constituencies.
In the elections, the BNP gained 209 parliamentary seats, while the hardline Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami got 68.
The BNP head, who was elected from two constituencies, vacated the Bogura-6 seat for a byelection and took oath as a member of Parliament from Dhaka-17.
Bangladesh last had a male Prime Minister over 35 years ago. Experts, however, believe that the country faces a major struggle in overcoming the turmoil and rising Islamist extremism that marred the 18-month reign of the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.
Source: IANS
