From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1978 Bangladeshi presidential election

none

Field	Value
type	Presidential
country	Bangladesh
turnout	54.27%
previous_election	1974 Bangladeshi presidential election
previous_year	1974
next_election	1981 Bangladeshi presidential election
next_year	1981
election_date	3 June 1978
party1	Nationalist Front
colour1	0087DC
image1	Ziaur Rahman 1979.jpg
candidate1	Ziaur Rahman
popular_vote1	15,733,807
percentage1	76.63%
party2	Democratic Unity Alliance
candidate2	M. A. G. Osmani
image2	M A G Osmani.jpg
colour2	006a4e
popular_vote2	4,455,200
percentage2	21.70%
title	President
before_election	Ziaur Rahman
before_party	Military Junta
after_election	Ziaur Rahman
after_party	Nationalist Front
posttitle	President

Presidential elections were held in Bangladesh on 3 June 1978. They were the first direct elections for presidency in the country, as the president had previously been elected by the Jatiya Sangsad. The result was a victory for Ziaur Rahman, who received 77% of the vote. Voter turnout was 54%.

They were the first presidential elections since the August 1975 coup that overthrew and killed president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and led to a military regime. The 1978 elections were called by the regime to lend legitimacy to its rule. The elections took place amid martial law, repression of the political opposition and curtailment of press freedoms. Other political parties were weakly organized.

Campaign

Prior to the elections six parties backing Ziaur Rahman – the Bangladesh Labour Party, the Bangladesh Muslim League, the Bangladesh Scheduled Caste Federation, Jatiyatabadi Ganatantrik Dal, the National Awami Party (Bhashani) and the United Peoples' Party – formed the Jatiyatabadi Front (Nationalist Front) to support his candidacy.

M. A. G. Osmani was also supported by an alliance of six parties under the name Ganatantrik Oikkya Jote (United Democratic Alliance). The alliance consisted of the Awami League, the Communist Party, the Gano Azadi League, the Jatiya Janata Party, the National Awami Party (Muzaffar) and the People's League.

A group of parties led by Ataur Rahman boycotted the elections, including the Democratic League, the Islamic Democratic League, Jatiya Dal, the Jatiya League and the Krishak Sramik Party.

Conduct

Retired General Khalilur Rahman stated that a "senior general" had given instructions to senior police officers that Zia should win at "any cost".

Results

References

[[Dieter Nohlen]], Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I'', p525 {{ISBN. 0-19-924958-X
Nohlen ''et al''., p544
Baxter, Craig. (1981). "Bangladesh Votes: 1978 and 1979". Asian Survey.
M. A. Singammal (1979) "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/41854894 1978 presidential election in Bangla Desh]", ''The Indian Journal of Political Science'', volume 40, number 1, pp97–110
Mascarenhas, Anthony. (1986). "Bangladesh: a legacy of blood". Hodder and Stoughton.
''Asian Affairs, Volume 8'', p37

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1978-elections-in-bangladesh 1978-elections-in-asia presidential-elections-in-bangladesh june-1978-in-bangladesh

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1978 Bangladeshi presidential election — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report