The Jatiya Party (Ershad) won only 14 of the 300 seats of the Bangladesh parliament at the 1 October 2001 elections (Bangladesh Election Commission Oct. 2001; Bangladesh International Election Observer Network 26 Oct. 2001), including the 8 October 2001 re-polling in 15 constituencies, two other seats remaining vacant, compared to 32 out of 300 seats at the 1996 general elections (ibid). The Jatiya Party comes fourth after the Jamat-E-Islami Bangladesh (17 seats), the Bangladesh Awami League (AL) (62 seats) and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) (191 seats) (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC). October 2001. "Results Summary." http://www.bd-ec.org/election.php3?sum=1 [Accessed 25 Oct. 2001]

Bangladesh International Election Observer Network. October 2001. "Final Results Summary." http://www.bangladeshelections.org/ [Accessed 26 Oct. 2001]