Bangladesh’s new Prime Minister Tariq Rahman took oath of office on Tuesday.
President Mohammad Shahabuddin administered the oath to Tariq Rahman. Cabinet ministers and other members of the new government also took the oath.
Tariq Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) won a landslide victory in last week’s parliamentary elections. The elections were the first since the 2024 mass uprising and were seen as crucial for the country’s future political landscape.
Prime Minister Tariq Rahman is the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and former President Zia-ur-Rehman. He is Bangladesh’s first male prime minister in 35 years. Since the restoration of democracy in 1991, either his mother or her political rival Sheikh Hasina have held the post of prime minister.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies won 212 seats in the 350-member parliament, while an 11-party alliance led by the country’s largest religious party, Jamaat-e-Islami, won 77 seats and will now play the role of opposition.
Voters in Bangladesh directly elect 300 members of parliament, while the remaining 50 seats are reserved for women and are distributed among the winning parties according to the principle of proportional representation.
Tariq Rahman, 60, returned to the country in December after 17 years in self-imposed exile (living in London), shortly before the death of his mother. He has vowed to work to promote democracy in the country of 170 million people.
Share this content:
