Form of Government in Bangladesh

Executive branch

Main office holders

Office	Name	Party	Since
President	Zillur Rahman	Bangladesh Awami League	12 February 2009
Prime Minister	Sheikh Hasina	Bangladesh Awami League	6 January 2009

The President is the head of state, a largely ceremonial post. The real power is held by the Prime Minister, who is the head of government. The president is elected by the legislature every five years and has normally limited powers that are substantially expanded during the tenure of a caretaker government, mainly in controlling the transition to a new government. Bangladesh has instituted a unique system of transfer of power; at the end of the tenure of the government, power is handed over to members of a civil society for three months, who run the general elections and transfer the power to elected representatives. This system was first practiced in 1991 and adopted to the constitution in 1996.^[2]

The prime minister is ceremonially appointed by the president, commanding the confidence of the majority of the MPs. The cabinet is composed of ministers selected by the prime minister and appointed by the president.

Legislative branch

The 300 members are elected by universal suffrage at least every 5 years. There is universal suffrage for all citizens at the age of 18.

"On 16 May 2004, the Jatiyo Sangshad (the National Parliament) passed the 14th constitutional amendment to reintroduce quotas for women (article 65). The number of seats in parliament is to be raised to 345, 45 (15%) of which will be reserved for women in the next parliament. The seats will be allocated to parties in proportion to their overall share of the vote. This quota system replaces the previous quota law which expired in 2001. Until 2001 a system of reserved seats for women was used, where 30 seats out of 330 were reserved to women (chosen by indirect election by the 300 directly elected MPs).

Source: Wikipedia.org