I. INTRODUCCION
1.4 RESULTADOS ESPERADOS
2.2.10 Situación Comercial
B
angladesh is a unitary state comprising the former East Pakistan province of Pakistan. With a popula- tion of about 141 million, it is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Since Bangladesh won its independence from Pakistan in a civil war in 1971, continuing political strife has allowed neither govern- ment selection and policymaking processes nor norms of office to become established. In December 1990 President Hossain Muhammad Ershad, a general, was forced from office. Elections were held in February 1991 for a new parliament under a neutral caretaker government. The new government fell in 1995 under pressure from the opposition that all future elections be held under a neutral caretaker government. Following an election in February 1996, which was boycotted by the opposition, this demand was conceded through a constitutional amendment, and new elections were held in June 1996. The acceptance by all parties of the concept that elections will be held under neutral caretaker governments raises hope that the parlia- mentary form of government will continue.Prior to the present government system, Bangla- desh experienced three different governmental periods and styles:
1. A parliamentary system from 1972 to 1975, under the strong leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (a.k.a. Mujib), the father of independence and leader of the Awami League (AL)
2. A presidential system (already established under Mujib just before his assassination) from 1975 to 1982, under General Ziaur Rahman (a.k.a. Zia)
3. A military-dominated presidential system with aspects of one-party rule under General Ershad from 1982 through 1990
The transitions between these periods, including the one leading to the present parliamentary system, all involved assassinations, coups, or other extracon- stitutional actions. Throughout, the constitution was not abrogated, although it was often suspended or amended, usually by decree, to authorize whatever changes the leader desired.
The System of
Government
Bangladesh is a parliamentary democracy consisting of six administrative divisions with a legal system based on English common law. Its constitution came into effect December 16, 1972. The constitution was sus- pended from March 24, 1982, through November 10, 1986, and has been amended many times.
EXECUTIVE
Executive power is wielded by the prime minister, who is the head of government and leader of the par- liamentary majority. The head of state or president (a largely ceremonial position) is elected by the par- liament. The powers of the prime minister, assisted by a cabinet, are those expected in a British-style form
of government. The president’s role is important whenever parliament is dissolved; he or she directs placement of a caretaker government to supervise the elections. The real power is held by the prime minister. The president is elected by the legislature every five years. The prime minister is appointed by the president and must be a member of parliament. According to the constitution, the president can dis- solve parliament upon written request of the prime minister. Khaleda Zia, the widow of Ziaur Rahman, became prime minister after leading a coalition headed by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to a landslide victory in the 2001 elections. She had previously served as prime minister between 1991 and 1996. Iajudden Ahmed was appointed president on September 6, 2002.
LEGISLATURE
Bangladesh has a unicameral 300-seat body, the National Parliament (Jatiya Sangsad). The 300 legisla- tors are elected every five years by popular vote. In the parliamentary elections held in October 2001, a four- party coalition led by the BNP won a landslide victory, capturing 47 percent of the vote and 215 out of the 300 seats in the parliament. The Awami League (AL) is the main opposition party, having won 62 seats in the elections.
JUDICIARY
The Supreme Court headed by the chief justice is the highest judicial body in the country and comprises an appellate division (the court of last appeal) and a high court division. The high court is an intermediate court of appeals between the appellate division and the district courts. The president appoints the chief justice and all other judges, including those in the appellate division and the high court division of the Supreme Court, in consultation with the chief justice. This convention was upheld in 1994 when the chief justice protested that he had not been consulted on appoint- ments. The government backed down, and some of the appointments were withdrawn. Bangladesh’s judiciary is a civil court system. The local government level officials are elected, but large administrative units are run by a civil service.
REGIONAL AND LOCAL
GOVERNMENT
Each of the governments in Bangladesh has made modifications in the local government system that were intended to bring government closer to the people. In the present system there are five levels of local government: division, region, district, upazilla (literally, subdistrict), and local councils. There are six divisions covering different areas of the coun-
try: Dhaka (central), Chittagong (southeast), Sylhet (northeast), Barisal (south), Khulna (southwest), and Rajshahi (northwest). There are 19 regions, 64 dis- tricts, 486 upazillas, and 4,405 local councils. Urban areas have municipal committees that combine indi- vidual local councils. Four cities are municipal cor- porations that have a consolidated local government. These are Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, and Rajshahi. The members of the corporation (city council) are directly elected, as are the mayors. A city administrator (roughly equivalent to a city manager) is appointed by the central government.
Powers are unevenly divided among the various levels. The divisions are coordinating bodies con- cerned principally with development issues. They are headed by a civil servant designated a commissioner. The regions were formally called districts. In the 1982 reorganization of local government, no specific powers were assigned to the regions, and they exist in name only. The current districts are headed by a deputy commissioner and have elected councils. Their powers are limited but again center on devel- opment issues.
The key level of local government is the upazilla. The administration is headed by an upazilla officer and has an elected body, the upazilla parishad. It is here also that the court system begins. The upazilla council can consider all local issues, including such matters as health, family planning, education, agricultural development, and small industry. The upazillas receive development grants from the central government. These must be spent in specified areas for which maxi- mum and minimum percentages are prescribed (e.g., for agriculture the range is 30 percent to 40 percent of the grant). The decisions within the ranges are made by the upazilla parishad.
Below the upazillas are the union councils. These have directly elected members and also some appointed members to represent underrepresented segments of the population. The councils have limited legislative powers because most of those have been transferred to the upazillas. The councils are concerned with such local issues as roads, veterinary clinics, elementary education, and health. The average population covered by a union is about 26,000.
The Electoral System
The parliament is elected by universal suffrage by all citizens over the age of 18. The election is held from single-member constituencies, which are reappor-
tioned following each decennial census, the last in 2001. Elections are on a plurality system. Candidates, both men and women over the age of 21, of all political parties are eligible to contest as well as independents. The government takes responsibility for the registra- tion of voters. The rules for local body elections are the same. In the 2001 parliamentary elections, nearly 75 percent of eligible voters cast ballots.
The Party System
ORIGINS OF THE PARTIES
Political parties in Bangladesh originated during the struggle against British colonial rule that culminated in the independence of Pakistan in 1947 and its sepa- ration from India. Prior to independence the two major parties were the Muslim League, a party limited in membership to Muslims but not a party that could be described as “fundamentalist,” and the Krishak Praja Party (Farmer’s People’s Party), which represented the rural small landholders and was, in form at least, open to both Muslims and Hindus.
After independence, the AL was founded specifically to be open to both Muslims and Hindus. An alliance of the refounded Krishak Sramik Party (KSP; Farmer’s and Worker’s Party) and the Awami League—the United Front—trounced the then governing Muslim League in the East Pakistan provincial assembly election in 1954. After martial law was imposed in 1958, the KSP gradu- ally disappeared, leaving the Muslim League and the AL as the major contestants in the 1970 election, in which the AL won an enormous victory and led Bangladesh to independence. Since the independence of Bangladesh the Muslim League has all but disappeared, although a small party operates under that name. The AL is a cen- trist party and has disclaimed the Socialism espoused by Mujib. It and the other major parties, particularly the BNP and the JP, are not communally (religiously) or regionally based, although the BNP and the JP are often described as center-right parties. The exception is the JI, which is an Islamic revivalist party.
THE PARTIES IN LAW
There are at present no restrictions on political party activity, although there have been in the past. Following the coup against Mujib in 1975 and the imposition of martial law by Ziaur Rahman in the same year and by Ershad in 1982, political activity including activity by parties was banned. As martial law was relaxed in each case, political party activity was allowed.
PARTY ORGANIZATION
In general, Bangladeshi parties are hybrids combining mass- and cadre-party characteristics. In large part, party adherence reflects traditional patron-client relationships, particularly in the rural countryside (where more than 80 percent of the population lives). Kinship groups such as
gushti (patrilineage) and poribar (family of procreation)
and their residential distribution in the bari (cluster of households with a common courtyard) play a central role in local political alignments. Typically, political par- ties mobilize support from dominant and well-connected lineages, and much local political activity centers on recruiting locally powerful persons who head economi- cally (ownership of land being an important indicator) or demographically dominant lineages that can activate a host of kin-group ties in their political support. The vari- ous small Marxist and left-wing parties also use kinship ties to mobilize support, often by capitalizing on tensions between rich and poor baris and on intralineage conflicts over landownership. The loyalty of influentials cannot be ensured by political parties, as other parties try to win them over and are often successful.
Policy or ideological issues have generally played little part in campaigns except in the urban areas, although issue-based politics is increasing in the rural areas. Of greater importance is the role played by personalities and their manipulation of traditional patron-client structures. Violence has been a com- mon feature in campaigning, although much less was reported in the 1991, 1996, and 2001 campaigns and balloting.
Bangladesh has over 50 parties of varying size and strength, most of them little more than projections of personalities.