The parliament has 330 members, 300 of them are directly elected by universal suffrage for five years and 30 of them are women elected by the parliament.
The president is elected for five years by the parliament and is largely ceremonial.
|RDefense:|N There is no military service and the strength is about 110 000 men.
|RNational holidays:|N National Day, March 26, and Victory Day, December 16.
|RNature and climate:|N Several great rivers cross the country, the biggest Ganges and Brahmaputra, that create big delta areas. Uninhabitable jungles and swamps cover a third of the country.
Warm and wet climate. Bangladesh is among the rainiest areas of the world. Percipitation between 1500 and 3000 mm. Average temperature in January 19°C and in July 27°C.
|RPeople:|N Mostly Bengali.
|REducation:|N Compulsory between 5 and 10 years. There are five universities.
|REconomy:|N One of the poorest nations of the world. 59% of the population occupied in agriculture. Most important crops are rice, jute, tea, potatoes, sugarcanes, tobacco, spices, cotton and tropical fruits.
Bangladesh is the worlds foremost producer and exporter of jute. Also extensive export of tea.
Manufacturing is concentrated on processing jute, which accounts for two thirds of export value.
Also textile manufacturing, sugar-refineries, match factories, glassworks and so on.
Oil and natural gas has been found offshore.
|RHistory:|N Bangladesh formerly belonged to India, but at liberation from the UK in 1947 the attempts to create one nation of the Indian subcontinent failed. The area was divided according to religion, so that the Muslim western and eastern parts, separated by 1500 km Indian territory, formed the nation of Pakistan.
Severe antagonism prevailed between the two parts of the nation from the start, as there were great cultural and historical differences between them.
The first general elections after independence were held in 1971. Sheik Majibur Rahman and his Awami League in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) won the majority 169 of 300 seats in the parliament.
Fearing that Rahman would demand independence for Bangladesh, the president delayed with calling the elected parliament. Rahman was arrested and East Pakistan terrorized. Consequently the nation of Bangladesh was proclaimed at March 26th, 1971.
The Pakistan army tried to intervene and thus started a bloody civil war. 10 million Bengalis fled to India.
Finally India intervened militarily, both against West Pakistan and East Pakistan and in three weeks the violation was over and the independent nation of Bangladesh secured.
Sheik Mujibur Rahman was the first prime minister, but was murdered in 1975 and a series of coups followed.
In the second half of the 1970:s the jute declined as a major world commodity. This worsened a chronic destitution of the densely crowded population.
In a coup 1982 general H.M. Erschad seized power. In 1988 he declared Bangladesh an Islamic republic.
In 1991 a parliamentary system of government was adopted.
1988 and 1989 natural disasters and monsoon rain killed more than 4 000 people and made 30 millions homeless. In 1991 a cyclone killed over 130 000 people and caused damages for 2,7 billion US$.
