2008 Bangladeshi general election

2008 Bangladeshi general election

← 2001 29 December 2008 (2008-12-29) 2014 →
300 of the 345 seats in the Jatiya Sangsad[a] 151 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	87.13%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Sheikh Hasina Khaleda Zia H.M. Ershad Party AL BNP JP(E) Alliance Grand Alliance Oikya Alliance Grand Alliance Last election 40.02%, 62 seats 41.40%, 193 seats 7.22%, 14 seats Seats won 230 30 27 Seat change 168 163 13 Popular vote 33,634,629 22,757,101 4,926,360 Percentage 48.04% 32.50% 7.04%
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Fakhruddin Ahmed (Acting) Caretaker government Subsequent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina AL

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General elections were held in Bangladesh on 29 December 2008. The two main parties in the election were the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Khaleda Zia, and the Bangladesh Awami League Party, led by Sheikh Hasina. The Bangladesh Awami League Party formed a fourteen-party Grand Alliance including Ershad's Jatiya Party,^[1] while the BNP formed a four-party alliance which included the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami.^[2] The election was originally scheduled for January 2007, but it was postponed by a military-controlled caretaker government for an extended period of time.

The elections resulted in a landslide victory for the Awami League-led grand alliance,^[3] which won 263 seats of the 300 directly elected seats. The main rival four-party alliance received only 32 seats, with the remaining four going to independent candidates. Polling in the constituency of Noakhali-1 was postponed due to the mysterious death of the AL candidate. The election for the seat was held on 12 January 2009 instead^[4] and was won by the BNP candidate.^[5] Voter turnout was 87%, the highest ever recorded in a Bangladeshi general election.

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