Begum Khaleda Zia was born August 15, 1945, is a former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, having served from 1991 to 1996, becoming the first woman in the country’s history to hold that position. She served again from 2001 to 2006. Khaleda Zia is the Chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).After 35 years of independence of Bangladesh she has ruled the country for about 10 years (longest period). She has been elected to five separate parliamentary constituencies in the general elections of 1991, 1996, and 2001, a feat unachieved by any other politician in Bangladeshi history. In 2006, Forbes ranked Khaleda Zia at number 33 in its list of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the world.
Khaleda Zia was daughter of Iskandar Majumder and Taiyaba Majumder was born in Dinajpur District. The family originally hails from Feni, a southeastern district of the country. She studied in Dinajpur Government Girls High School.In 1960, she married Ziaur Rahman.
After the assassination of President Ziaur Rahman, Vice-President Justice Abdus Sattar took over as the acting President and also as Chairman of the BNP. Army Chief of Staff General Hossain Mohammad Ershad overthrew Justice Sattar on March 24, 1982.
In March 1983, Justice Sattar appointed Khaleda Zia as vice-chairman of the BNP. In February 1984, she became the chairperson as Justice Sattar retired from politics. On August 10, 1984 the party elected her the chairperson.
Under the leadership of Begum Zia, the BNP formed a 7-party alliance in 1983 and launched a relentless struggle against the autocratic regime of General Ershad. During the 9-year-long struggle against Ershad, Begum Zia did not compromise with his autocratic and illegitimate government. For her strict adherence to the principles, the government restricted her movements by using prohibitive laws. She was detained seven times in eight years. But undaunted, Begum Zia continued to provide leadership in the movement for ousting Ershad. Like Zia before him, Ershad attempted to give his rule a civilian and democratic face, but Khaleda Zia boycotted all elections during his rule.
In the face of a mass upsurge spearheaded by alliances led by Begum Zia and Sheikh Hasina, Ershad at last handed over power to a neutral caretaker government on December 6, 1990. In the parliamentary elections held under this government on February 27, 1991, Bangladesh Nationalist Party emerged victorious as a single majority party. Begum Zia contested from five constituencies in three consecutive parliamentary elections and won in all seats.
The BNP-led government restored the parliamentary system through the 12th amendment to the Constitution in 1991. A neutral caretaker government oversaw elections on February 27, 1991 that were broadly considered to be free, fair and truly democratic. Khaleda Zia became Bangladesh’s first female Prime Minister with the support of the majority of the members of the parliament.
Khaleda Zia became Prime Minister for the second consecutive term after the BNP had a landslide victory in February 15, 1996 general election to the sixth Jatiya Sangsad. The election was, however, boycotted by all other major parties. The short-lived parliament hastily introduced the Caretaker Government through 13th amendment to the Constitution, and then was dissolved to pave the way for the parliamentary elections.
The four-party alliance then participated in the October 1, 2001 general elections and won the election with a two-third majority of seats in parliament and 46% of the vote (compared to the principal opposition party’s 40%) and Khaleda Zia was once again sworn in as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
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