Editing History of Bangladesh (section)

====Khaleda administration (1991–1996)====
The centre-right BNP won the [[1991 Bangladeshi general election]] with 140 seats, but was short of an overall parliamentary majority. However, they formed a government with support from the Islamic party [[Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh|Jamaat-e-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; the Jamaat-I-Islami (JI), led by Ghulam Azam; and the Jatiya Party (JP), led by acting chairman Mizanur Rahman Choudhury while its founder, former President Ershad, served out a prison sentence on corruption charges. Khaleda Zia became the first female prime minister in Bangladeshi history.

In [[1991 Bangladeshi constitutional referendum|September 1991]] a constitutional referendum was held, which sought the transfer of executive powers from the President, which had been held by the Office since 1975, to the Prime Minister – making the President largely a ceremonial role. The vote was overwhelmingly in favour of the constitutional amendment and Bangladesh was restored to a Parliamentary democracy, as per its founding constitution. In October 1991, members of Parliament elected a new head of state, President [[Abdur Rahman Biswas]]. Finance Minister [[Saifur Rahman (Bangladeshi politician)|Saifur Rahman]] launched a series of liberal economic reforms, which set a precedent in South Asia and was seen as a model in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.<ref name="dhakatribune">
{{cite news |last=Hossain |first=Kazi Liakat |date=6 September 2016 |title=Remembering the budget wizard |url=http://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/op-ed/2016/09/06/remembering-budget-wizard/ |newspaper=[[Dhaka Tribune]] |type=Op-ed |access-date=6 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510083610/http://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/op-ed/2016/09/06/remembering-budget-wizard/ |archive-date=10 May 2017 |url-status=live}}
</ref>

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 programme 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.<ref name="postershad">{{cite journal |last1=Islam |first1=Syed Serajul |date=2001 |title=Elections and politics in post-Ershad era in Bangladesh |url=https://www.sav.sk/journals/uploads/060412385_Islam.pdf |journal=Asian and African Studies |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=160–173 |access-date=30 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230181206/https://www.sav.sk/journals/uploads/060412385_Islam.pdf |archive-date=30 December 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> All major opposition parties, including Sheikh Hasina's Awami League, pledged to boycott national elections scheduled for [[February 1996 Bangladeshi general election|15 February 1996]].<ref name=bn />

In February, Khaleda Zia was re-elected by a landslide in voting boycotted and denounced as unfair by the three main opposition parties. This administration was short-lived however, only lasting 12 days<ref name="parliamentarytenure">{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.gov.bd/index.php/en/about-parliament/tenure-of-parliament|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180812074443/http://www.parliament.gov.bd/index.php/en/about-parliament/tenure-of-parliament|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 August 2018|title=Tenure of All Parliaments|date=12 August 2018|access-date=27 December 2018}}</ref> and in March 1996, following escalating political turmoil, the sitting Parliament enacted a constitutional amendment to allow a neutral [[Caretaker government of Bangladesh|caretaker government]] to assume power and conduct new parliamentary elections in [[June 1996 Bangladeshi general election|June 1996]].