Political Parties

The principal political parties in Bangladesh are the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which favors centrist policies and a free-enterprise economic system; the Awami League, which advocates a secular state and limited socialist economic policies; the Jatiya Party, similar to the BNP in its platform; and the Jamaat-e-Islami Party, an Islamic party advocating a greater role for Islam in public life. In the 2001 general elections the BNP led a four-party coalition, including the Jamaat-e-Islami and a faction of the Jatiya Party, to win a two-thirds majority in the parliament. The Awami League, previously the ruling party, became the political opposition.