Sheikh Hasina was on Thursday invited by Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid to form the next Government, hours after she was elected as the Awami League’s Parliamentary party chairperson.
Hasina, 71, is set to form the government for the third consecutive term. She won the historic fourth term as prime minister, becoming the country’s longest-serving leader.
The invitation came when Hasina visited the Bangabhaban to meet the president on Thursday evening.
“The president invited her to form the government,” a presidential palace spokesman told PTI.
On Thursday morning, she took oath of office and was chosen as the leader of the House for the fourth time.
Hasina, the daughter of Bangladesh’s founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is termed by many as the country’s iron lady.
Officials said the new government was expected to be sworn in on January 10, amid uncertainty over the opposition structure in the 300-seat parliament.
Hasina’s Awami League won 258 seats and her ally Jatiya Party got 22 while jailed ex-premier Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secured just five seats and its partners in the National Unity Front (NUF) got two in the recently concluded 11th general elections.
The NUF, with BNP being its key partner, has rejected the election, calling it a “farce” and demanded fresh polls under a non-party caretaker government. The seven MPs-elect of NUF boycotted the oath-taking ceremony on Thursday.
Former president HM Ershad’s Jatiya Party earlier hinted they could emerge as the parliamentary opposition.
But Jatiya Party Co-Chairman GM Quader said on Thursday that they would join the Awami League-led government in line with party MPs decision. “Since we participated in the election under the banner of Awami League, we want to join the government,” he told reporters.
Legal experts said the door was now open for the BNP and its allies with seven seats to grab the opposition status in the House. The Communist Party of Bangladesh and several other left-wing parties on Thursday staged a protest with their activists covering their faces with black ribbons demanding as well the cancellation of the polls.
