By SM Najmus Sakib
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Bangladesh's ruling Awami League party leader Sheikh Hasina, 76, Thursday took oath as prime minister for a record fifth time after her party won weekend polls, wholly boycotted by the opposition parties.
Besides Hasina and her Cabinet of 37 members, they have also taken oaths after newly elected 298 lawmakers were sworn in on Wednesday.
Of the total 300 seats, the ruling Awami League party won 222 seats, its ally Jatiya Party 11, independent candidates won 62 seats and others three while the commission kept elections of two seats on hold.
Opposition parties led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party did not stand their candidates in elections and boycotted the Sunday polls. They rejected the outcome of what they called "dummy elections."
President Mohammed Shahabuddin administered the oath-taking ceremony at the presidential house.
Of 37 ministers, 25 are full Cabinet-rank ministers, while 11 others are deputy ministers.
A day earlier, Shahabuddin appointed Hasina as the chief executive after she was elected leader of the parliament on Wednesday.
In the 11th parliament, there were 45 ministers, including 24 full-rank ministers.
- Hasina's journey to political climax
Sheikh Hasina Wazed, the mother of two, is the elder daughter of Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was murdered with most of his family on Aug. 15, 1975, during a military coup.
Hasina and her sister, Sheikh Rehana, survived the deadly coup as they were living in then-West Germany.
Later, she took asylum in India.
A few days before the military President Ziaur Rahman was assassinated, General Zia allowed Hasina to return home in 1981 after six years of exile in India.
After her return, Hasina reunited the politically fragile Awami League and managed to form a government for the first time in 1996.
She returned to power in late December 2008 after then military-backed government had ruled Bangladesh since 2007.
Hasina on Thursday took oath as the prime minister – including for a straight fourth term, which makes her the only politician who has been elected prime minister for a record five times since 1996.
In 2018, Forbes ranked her 26th on the list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women.
But her government has been criticized by the rights groups and independent rights activists for alleged human rights violations, "ruthless" crackdown on her political opponents, and gradually pushing Bangladesh towards a "one-party" state through "controlled" elections.