Bangladeshi general election, 2008

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29 December 2008 (2008-12-29)

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All 300 seats in the Jatiyo Sangshad
151 seats were needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Sheikh Hasina	Khaleda Zia	Hussain Muhammad Ershad
Party	Awami League	BNP	Jatiya Party (E)
Leader since	1981	1984	1986
Leader's seat	Gopalganj-3	Feni-1	Rangpur
Last election	62 seats, 40.02%	193 seats, 41.40%	14 seats, 7.22%
Seats won	230	30	27
Seat change	168	170	13
Popular vote	33,887,451	22,963,836	4,867,377
Percentage	49.0%	33.20%	7.00%
Swing	8.98%	8.20%	0.22%

Prime Minister before election

Fakhruddin Ahmed (Acting)
Independent

Subsequent Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina
Awami League

Fakhruddin Ahmed (Acting)
Independent

Sheikh Hasina
Awami League

The Ninth National Parliamentary Elections 2008 (Bengali: নবম জাতীয় সংসদ নির্বাচন ২০০৮) 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, while the BNP formed a four-party alliance which included the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami. 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 election resulted in a landslide victory for the Awami League-led grand alliance, which won 263 seats out 300. 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 and was won by the BNP candidate.

On 11 December, Bangladesh Awami League formed a coalition with the Jatiya Party led by Hussain Muhammad Ershad once deposed through mass uprising. The coalition included some other minor parties. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, BNP in short, continued with its alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami formed for the national election of 2001 to participate in the 2008 election. If Jatiyo Party wins more than 35 seats, it will be able to negotiate a better deal with Awami League on sharing of power and in forming government.

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