Bangladesh's new prime minister takes office following party's sweeping election victory
Bangladesh’s new prime minister, Tarique Rahman, was sworn in on Tuesday following his party’s decisive victory in last week’s parliamentary elections, the country’s first since the massive 2024 uprising. The vote, widely viewed as a turning point in Bangladesh’s political landscape, comes after years of intense rivalry and disputed elections.
Rahman, 60, the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and former President Ziaur Rahman, becomes Bangladesh’s first male prime minister in 35 years. Since 1991, when the nation returned to democracy, leadership had alternated between Rahman’s mother and her longtime rival, Sheikh Hasina. President Mohammed Shahabuddin administered the oath of office, while dozens of Cabinet members and newly elected officials were also sworn in.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies captured 212 seats in the 350-member Parliament. The opposition, an 11-party alliance led by the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party, won 77 seats. The newly formed National Citizen Party, established by student leaders of the 2024 uprising, secured six seats within the opposition alliance. Of Bangladesh’s 350 parliamentary seats, 300 are directly elected while 50 are reserved for women and allocated proportionally among the parties.
Rahman, who returned from a 17-year self-exile in London shortly before his mother’s death, has pledged to strengthen democracy in Bangladesh, home to 170 million people. The election was overseen by an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus and was largely peaceful, with international observers deeming it acceptable.
Foreign leaders attended the swearing-in ceremony, including the presidents and prime ministers of the Maldives, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Earlier in the day, the head of the election commission, A.N.M. Nasir Uddin, administered oaths to the newly elected lawmakers.
However, BNP lawmakers declined to take a second oath as members of a proposed Constitutional Reform Council, created following a referendum held alongside the election. While lawmakers from Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies took the oath, the move highlighted potential divisions in the new Parliament. The reforms approved by the referendum include prime ministerial term limits and strengthened checks on executive power, though critics warn they could shift Bangladesh away from its largely secular constitutional framework.
Rahman’s main rival, the Bangladesh Awami League led by Sheikh Hasina, was barred from participating in the election. Hasina, living in exile in India since August 2024, condemned the vote as unfair. She has also been sentenced to death in absentia over alleged crimes against humanity related to the uprising, allegations she denies, calling the court a “kangaroo court.”
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