ABSTRACT
One of the significant political events of the present-day Bangladesh was the election of the fifth parliament on 27 February 1991. It, in fact, marked the beginning of a new pattern of parliamentary politics and, as observed by a leading political analyst, ‘it ushered in a new era in the political history of the country’ (Hakim, 1993, p.62). What made the fifth parliament unique were many, perhaps the most important being that it enjoyed greater legitimacy than its predecessors more, however, because of the way(s) it was elected than the manner it worked subsequently. The responsibility for holding elections rested with the Shahabuddin caretaker government, which succeeded in restoring the credibility of the electoral system and increasing the confidence of the people in the electoral process. The BNP, which won the elections and the other parties that contested the polls, accepted the results; while the international election observer teams recommended the emulation of the Bangladesh experience by other countries.
