Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)

Bangladesh Nationalist Party is one of the largest political parties of Bangladesh.

President Ziaur Rahman had founded the party when he was elected as president. After his assassination, Abdus Sattar was elected as the president. Sattar was ousted from the party and Begum Khaleda Zia was elected as the chairperson of the party.

Army General Hussain Muhammed Ershad declared martial law in the country. In the Bangladeshi General Election, 1991 the party had won 140 seats, only 11 short of a majority.

Begum Khaleda Zia was sworn in as the first woman Prime Minister of Bangladesh. In the February election of 1996 Khaleda Zia became Prime minister for another term, winning 300 seats out of 300. Fresh elections were held in June and BNP had introduced the caretaker government system for neutral elections. In the election of 2001 BNP won 193 seats and came to power for the fourth time. Khaleda Zia had become Prime Minister for the third time.